TORONTO – What was shaping up as a resurgent outing for Steven Matz hit the wall abruptly in the middle innings, Trent Thornton’s recent struggles continued and a game in the Toronto Blue Jays’ grasp almost instantaneously slipped through their fingers.
Add in a costly error, a wild pitch and the offence’s inability to get to rookie Spenser Watkins early, and some late thunder wasn’t enough to prevent a 7-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.
Solo homers from Randal Grichuk in the seventh off Dillon Tate and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., in the eighth off Tanner Scott, plus a two-run drive by Lourdes Gurriel Jr., off Tyler Wells in the ninth made things interesting, but the mid-game meltdown was too much to overcome.
That left Matz’s progress in his second start since returning from the COVID-19 injured list the main takeaway for the Blue Jays.
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He threw 48 pitches in a four-run, 2.2-inning return against Seattle last week and got up to 68 pitches with four strikeouts in an outing marred by a pair of two-run homers from two of his final four batters – Pedro Severino in the fourth and Cedric Mullins in the fifth.
“Definitely felt a lot better today, felt like I had my stuff back, actually felt a little better as the game went on,” Matz said. “Even going into the fifth, I still felt pretty sharp. Just that one slider was a little flat to Mullins but other than that, the progress from my last start to this start, I feel good about my stuff. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t put up some zeros for the team today.”
Matz was largely in charge to that point, doing his part to try and make the 1-0 lead provided by Guerrero’s sacrifice fly in the first inning stand up. Working mainly off a sinker he commanded far more effectively than last time, he got through his first three innings unscathed, including stranding both Pat Valaika and Domingo Leyba after they reached to open the third.
Ramon Urias’ two-out single preceded Severino’s drive on a sinker, while Bo Bichette’s error on Leyba’s routine grounder to open the fifth came right before Matz hung a flat slider to Mullins.
“He’s getting there,” manager Charlie Montoyo said of his lefty’s progression. “We were trying to get him to 70, 75 pitches and he pitched good. He made a couple of mistakes and when we sent him back (out for the fifth), we wanted … him to get the No. 9 hitter and the lefty at the top and then we were going to bring in Trent. But he just made a bad pitch to Mullins, who’s a pretty good hitter. But he looked a lot better than his last outing, for sure.”
Thornton, who had allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits and three walks in 3.1 innings over his past three outings, inherited a 4-1 deficit and quickly pushed the game out of reach.
He had a Trey Mancini single, a Ryan Mountcastle double, a run-scoring wild-pitch and an Anthony Santander two-run homer after striking out Austin Hays, and Montoyo pulled him after George Springer chased down a Urias smash by the wall in centre.
To be fair, Mancini hit a curveball just below the zone while Mountcastle got around on a chase heater above the box, but Santander and Urias both got fastballs in the happy zone.
“Command,” Montoyo said of the primary issue for Thornton of late. “And that goes for a lot of guys out of the bullpen that are struggling. When you pitch behind in the count, it doesn’t matter who you’re facing, you’re going to be in trouble. And that’s been Trent’s trouble right now, his command, pitching behind in the count.”
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Watkins, meanwhile, recovered after getting out of the first at only one run allowed, holding the Blue Jays to two singles and two walks over the next four innings. They pecked away at the Orioles bullpen but never managed to build an extended rally.
Matz’s next turn comes Sunday in the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays just before the all-star break. After some inconsistencies he had finally seemed to find his stride against the Boston Red Sox on June 12, striking out eight in 5.2 innings of one-run ball, but hit the COVID list right after.
“I was in a decent groove before that, but I’m happy with where I’m at physically and where my rhythm was today compared to last start,” said Matz, who got eight whiffs and seven fouls on 20 fastball swings. “I kind of feel like I’m back where I was.”
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