TORONTO — On a day the Toronto Blue Jays' pitching depth became thinner, the club's best starter endured his worst outing of the season.
Kevin Gausman, the metronome right-hander who's enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign, bobbled a comebacker from Tampa Bay Rays leadoff man Chandler Simpson to open the game, and everything pretty much tumbled downhill from there.
Gausman went on to surrender three runs in that first inning and never found his footing in what was an 8-5 loss in front of 39,336 at Rogers Centre.
Blue Jays shortstop Andres Gimenez homered twice and drove in all five runs, but the offence couldn’t muster much else as the club fell to 18-23 and 9.5 games back of the AL East-leading Rays. After completing a sweep last week at Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay has won all four meetings between the teams this season.
The loss compounded what was already a hectic day for the Blue Jays. On Monday afternoon, the club placed outfielder Addison Barger on the 10-day injured list with right elbow inflammation and designated left-hander Eric Lauer for assignment, a surprising yet understandable transaction that further muddies the Blue Jays’ rotation picture.
Lauer, who was hailed within the clubhouse as one of the team’s MVPs last year for his contributions that steadied the starting staff amidst injury, had been largely ineffective this season while dealing with a decrease in velocity. He allowed six runs after coming in as the bulk reliever in Sunday's loss to the Angels and saw his ERA balloon to 6.69.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Lauer was surprised by the decision and noted it was based on results.
“Just felt like we needed to go in a different direction,” Schneider told reporters Monday afternoon. “That was it. So, those conversations suck. Baseball's hard. We get it. Hopefully he can get back to the stuff being where it was last year.”
The Blue Jays took Lauer to arbitration in the off-season, and the left-hander was vocal in April about his displeasure with being used behind an opener, yet Schneider said he didn’t think those factors impacted Lauer’s performance.
“We talked about that pretty openly with him and whether it was arbitration or contract or role, whatever it was, we stayed in front of it with him,” said Schneider. “You'd like to think it wouldn't affect a guy going out there, but you never know how guys are feeling when they're either out there or in between. I hope that wasn't part of it.
“I think that this business is this business, and if it doesn't go your way, you got to be a big boy and move on and go out and compete,” continued the manager. “So, I think we were just focused on the stuff and the results, but I don't think it affected him too much. That wasn't what he was telling us.”
Where that leaves the Blue Jays’ rotation now is unclear. And further complicating matters is that Max Scherzer's right thumb issues have resurfaced and will require a cortisone shot, according to Schneider, while the club is expecting news about Jose Berrios on Tuesday following his visit with Dr. Keith Meister.
Shane Bieber is progressing in his recovery, but a return isn’t close. That leaves Spencer Miles, who handled the first three innings on Sunday, as option to start, while Schneider said triple-A right-handers Chad Dallas and CJ Van Eyk could potentially be in the mix.
Gausman, meanwhile, endured a 28-pitch first inning that began with Simpson’s comebacker to the mound. The right-hander bobbled the ball, gave chase to it and landed awkwardly, leading to a visit from Schneider and trainer Jose Ministral.
“Just kind of a freak thing,” Gausman said. “I thought it was hit a lot harder back at me, but just kind of had a weird feeling in my knee there for a second. I threw one (warm-up) pitch and felt like I was fine, but I don't think that led to anything.
“I just wasn't very good that first inning or second, really.”
Simpson — who flashed his game-changing speed with a two-stolen base, three-single day — later scored on a sacrifice fly from Jonathan Aranda and the Rays added two more runs on Richie Palacios’s single through the right side.
In the second frame the Rays added two more on an RBI triple from Taylor Walls and a broken-bat, run-scoring single by Aranda, who added a fifth-inning solo homer off Gausman.
Gausman said Rays hitters “had a good eye” for his splitter and did a good job of putting it in play.
“I thought they had a really good plan in Tampa and had a good plan again tonight, obviously,” said Gausman. “ And I just didn't make my pitches when I needed to.”
In total, Gausman allowed a season-high seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits over 4.2 innings, walking none and striking out five. It was his shortest start of the campaign and snapped a streak of nine straight games in which Blue Jays starters allowed three earned runs or fewer.
One positive for the 14-year veteran was that he notched his 2000th career strikeout in the fourth inning and received a standing ovation from the crowd. By the end of his outing, he’d increased the tally to 2,002, which is 90th on the all-time list.
“That was pretty cool,” said Gausman of the crowd’s reaction. “I've had some really cool moments here as a player where the fans have made you feel some love and I just wish I would have been able to enjoy it a little bit more. Giving up six runs isn't fun. But, yeah, it was a cool moment and I'll definitely remember that forever.”
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