TORONTO – The danger of allowing one bad day to bleed into the next, ever present amid the relentlessness of the baseball season, is especially acute in the waning days of the race for a playoff spot. That’s where the Toronto Blue Jays found themselves Saturday, losers of four in five, their worst stretch since dropping seven of eight July 11-22, and in need of turning the page from a costly setback Friday, all while navigating a bullpen day.
Tough spot, and it nearly became tougher in the first inning, when Gunnar Henderson challenged his way out of an inning-ending strikeout and walked to load the bases. But opener Spencer Miles rallied to get Christian Encarnacion-Strand on a drive two steps short of the right-field wall to escape the jam, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled in one run and scored another on an Alejandro Kirk single in the bottom half and the Blue Jays didn’t look back from there in a 7-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Kirk added a two-run shot in the third inning, after Brett Bateman opened the fame by going deep for the second straight day while Miles, who threw two shutout innings with five strikeouts, led a parade of seven arms, including 2.2 innings of one-unearned-run ball from bulk-arm Spencer Arrighetti, before a Rogers Centre crowd of 41,949.
“You're kind of holding your breath when the ball goes off the bat, roof open, day game, but that's a good job by Spence to leave the bases loaded and then to score early is big and settle it down,” said manager John Schneider. “There are momentum-shifting plays in games … those things tend to lead to good things offensively. So that was a big first inning from Spence to leave the bases loaded.”
At 74-75, the win combined with Cleveland’s 4-3 loss at Minnesota moved them one game back of the Guardians for the American League’s final wild-card. Ace Dylan Cease starts Sunday’s finale vs the Orioles against lefty Trevor Rogers, looking to help the pitching staff reset while taking the series.
The day after Max Scherzer surrendered one run in the first and five runs in the second while Guerrero was picked off by catcher Samuel Basallo in the first to stunt a building rally, Miles and Guerrero immediately flipped the script.
Guerrero, who both had fans chanting his name and booing him Friday, lashed a 95.4 m.p.h sinker down and away from Kyle Bradish to right-centre, where it short-hopped the wall and allowed Bateman to come around. It’s the type of swing Guerrero has worked at all season and one he’s trying to get off more consistently.
"That's a good swing from Vlad, getting a heater in the air that way and I know he's had his ups and downs, his struggles, we've talked about it all year, I feel like, but when he goes, it seems like it's easier for everyone else to go, too,” said Schneider. “So, encouraging swing, for sure.”
Kirk then gave the Blue Jays some breathing room on a day they needed it, dunking a base hit to right to plate Guerrero before ripping a drive to left-centre in the third for a 6-0 edge.
“We know what kind of player he is, what he's capable to do,” Kirk, speaking through interpreter Hector Lebron, said of Guerrero. “When he comes up with big at-bats like today in the first inning, the energy, it's unbelievable in the dugout. It feels great.”
The early offence meant the Blue Jays didn’t need to overextend anyone, a vital outcome as they navigate the final weeks of the season without a full rotation due to injury.
Miles ended up throwing 44 pitches, his most since 51 on July 21 and just his fourth time past 20 since then, and Schneider said the Blue Jays intend to “take advantage of” the days he’s available, which doesn’t necessarily mean lengthening him out, but riding him for whatever he has on a given day.
For his part, Miles said, “all that matters is the days off and the buildup and the intent behind the build-up and being smart with the pitch count. … However they want to use me, I'm here.”
Arrighetti, pitching behind an opener for the third time, echoed that sentiment after his best outing since joining the Blue Jays, allowing just the one unearned run as Kazuma Okamoto both booted an Encarnacion-Strand grounder and then fired it into the stands allowing Henderson to advance two bases and score.
Nathan Lukes got the righty out of that inning by fielding a Colton Cowser single and firing it home at 100 m.p.h., the hardest measured throw of his career, to get Encarnacion-Strand at the plate, and Arrighetti rolled through there.
He spent his time between outings “grinding” to smooth out his mechanics and get more repeatable, something he felt he achieved by “throwing it as hard as I can through wherever Kirkie was set up.”
“All that matters right now is winning, especially with where we're at in the standings,” he added later. “I have absolutely no ego about this and all I want to do is help us win, so whatever they ask me, that's what I'm going to do.”
That holds true across the roster, especially as the leverage on each day, the stakes in each game only keep rising.
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