PHILADELPHIA — Friday’s outcome felt like it largely came down to one pitch.
Sure, the Philadelphia Phillies routed the Toronto Blue Jays 8-0 on a beautiful night at Citizens Bank Park in the opener of a three-game set. However, the momentum of the game hinged on one offering from Kevin Gausman.
That came in the second inning as the Blue Jays’ right-hander faced off against Kyle Schwarber. The Phillies slugger had taken Gausman deep three times in 12 career at-bats, and so, you got the sense this plate appearance would be meaningful in one way or another.
With two outs and the Phillies already having plated one run, Gausman had the chance to get out of the inning with minimal damage. Schwarber simply didn’t let that happen, though, depositing a 1-0 outside fastball from Gausman over the fence in dead centre for a three-run home run.
It was his 22nd homer of the season and brought the crowd of 40,596 to a frenzy in what was essentially the death blow of the game.
“It was pretty good pitch to Schwarber but he’s a good fastball hitter,” Gausman said. “I was trying to go out of the zone there and that's what good hitters do. And the damage was done after that.”
“He's one of the best guys in the league to do that,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider of Schwarber. “You look back and you can get out of that inning with one run.”
Phillies starter Ranger Suarez, meanwhile, didn’t need much in the way of run support as he carved his way through a Blue Jays’ lineup that has become accustomed to staging comeback wins over its recent hot stretch.
Suarez allowed just four hits over seven innings, walking one and striking out seven. The Blue Jays have hit lefties well this season, yet the soft-tossing Suarez mixed his six pitches well, keeping Blue Jays’ hitters off balance while allowing just one runner to reach second base.
“That's kind of his type of game,” said Schneider. “He was locating well, he mixed his speeds with all of his pitches. Took a little off, put a little on, a couple front-door sinkers to righties and limited hard contact.
“You got to give him credit,” added the manager. “He pitched really well and we couldn't really get much going.”
The Blue Jays put runners on first and second in the eighth against right-hander Joe Ross, but Alejandro Kirk popped out and George Springer hit a weak grounder to third to end the threat.
Perhaps the most encouraging development for the club on Friday night came 600 kilometres north, where Max Scherzer was pitching in a rehab outing with the triple-A Buffalo Bisons. The right-hander tossed 56 pitches over 4.1 innings and while he said he felt good, the real test will be how his troublesome thumb feels in the morning. Schneider said the plan is for Scherzer to join the team on Saturday in Philadelphia.
The Blue Jays’ rotation could really use Scherzer now and that could come more into focus Saturday when struggling right-hander Bowden Francis takes the mound against Schwarber — whose .929 OPS is ninth in MLB — and a strong Phillies lineup.
“He's a really smart hitter,” said Gausman. “He's definitely thinking along with you as the at-bat goes on. The more pitches he sees, usually the better he is. He usually sees a lot of pitches against me and so, yeah, he's always been tough against me.”
Gausman has struck out Schwarber eight times over his career, with one of those punchouts coming in the fifth inning on Saturday. The right-hander’s only real blemishes came in the fateful second inning and, after that, he retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.
In total, Gausman allowed four runs on four hits over five innings, walking four and striking out seven. The Phillies did an excellent job of making him work and his pitch count of 95 resulted in Schneider having to dip into the bullpen in the sixth inning.
“He had good stuff,” said Schneider. “I think that the more he got into attack mode later, the better he was. But it was weird.”
Friday’s loss snapped the Blue Jays’ three-game winning streak and it was just their fourth defeat in the past 17 games. “Weird” is one way to describe it, but given the Blue Jays’ favourable outcomes this month, maybe they were due for a game like this.
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