SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Blue Jays have played some great baseball of late but Saturday night at Sutter Health Park, the Athletics outplayed them in every way.
On the mound, Jacob Lopez out-pitched Kevin Gausman, offensively the Blue Jays managed just three runs on six hits and they got in their own way defensively with three errors, all committed by Tyler Heineman. It added up to a 4-3 loss in front of 8,738 fans, as the Blue Jays fell to 55-40 on the season.
The Blue Jays got off to a strong start in this one thanks to a Leo Jimenez home run in the second inning, and a Bo Bichette RBI double in the third. But Gausman wasn’t especially sharp and the offence managed little in the middle innings, allowing the A’s to beat the Blue Jays for the first time in six attempts this year and even this weekend series 1-1.
“Those things just add up,” manager John Schneider said afterwards. “It just didn’t go our way.”
Of the three errors from Heineman made, two happened on catcher’s interference. Many catchers position themselves closer to the plate now in an attempt to steal extra strikes by presenting the ball better to umpires. Of course, that approach becomes self-defeating when catchers get too close and hitters clip their gloves, leading to free bases.
“Those things happen,” Schneider said. “It just sucks that it happened in that sequence.”
“It’s risk-reward,” the manager continued. “Heinie does a great job of getting some strikes at the bottom of the zone … it was a sequence of bad luck for Heinie. He’s hard on himself. I don’t want him to think it’s on him, but it sucks for anyone who cares as much as he does that it unfolded that way.”
Heineman also made a throwing error, though to his credit he did catch Lawrence Butler stealing and made a remarkable grab on a foul tip in the bottom of the sixth inning. With Tommy Nance pitching, Max Muncy swung and tipped a ball into Heineman’s glove for a third strike. Yet the ball popped right out of his glove and fell toward the ground, at which point Heineman dove forward to catch it for the out.
One way or another, the catcher they call the magician was in the middle of everything Saturday — it just wasn't one of his better performances.
“It’s so uncharacteristic,” Schneider said. “He’s been so good for us.”
As for Gausman, he pitched five innings and allowed four runs, three of which were earned. The Athletics connected for five hits against the right-hander, including a Brent Rooker two-run home run, as his season ERA climbed to 4.19.
“To be honest, I feel like the team's playing great, but I'm not necessarily pitching very well — or not as well as I would like," Gausman said. "So, happy where we're at as a team, but I know I need to be better for what we need and want to do kind of going forward. I’ll use this break to get my body right and be ready for what's going to be a fun, but crazy second half.”
Specifically, Gausman said he wants to cut back on walks, noting that “you’re living dangerously” by issuing free passes. To be fair, Gausman is walking 2.8 batters per nine innings, higher than his first season with the Blue Jays but right in line with where he’s been for the past couple of seasons. While his strikeout rate of 8.5 batters per nine has fallen off compared to 2022-23 levels, it’s up slightly compared to last year.
So, although Gausman's been more dominant in years past, he's still keeping the Blue Jays in games, a trend that continued against the A's.
In his start Saturday, Gausman's pitch count climbed quickly, prompting his exit after just five innings and 96 pitches. While he generated 11 swinging strikes, he only struck out two A's compared to two walks.
“I thought Kev was good,” Schneider said. “We just didn’t really help him a lot and it was tough for him to get into a rhythm. Kev battled. It’s been a grind of a first half for him and he’s doing his part.”
The Blue Jays rallied late, pulling to within one on an Alejandro Kirk sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth, but Addison Barger and Jimenez each struck out with Bichette on third to end the rally. Then Mason Miller entered in the ninth and shut the Blue Jays down with 103 m.p.h. heat to secure the win, stranding a Joey Loperfido walk on second base.
As Schneider acknowledged afterwards: “he’s one of the best in the business.”
On Sunday, the Blue Jays will look to rebound from the loss and finish the first half of the season with a series win behind starter Jose Berrios.
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