TORONTO – The easiest way for the Toronto Blue Jays to avoid the late-leverage issues that sunk their recent nine-game road trip and dogged them all season long is, rather obviously, to score enough runs that close-and-late spots don’t even happen.
To a certain degree, they’re built to win in a bludgeon-the-opposition fashion, using offence to provide the margin-of-error needed to mask other shortcomings. But putting up six-runs-plus isn’t always going to happen, even when the matchup suggests that should be the case.
Take Friday’s infuriating 4-1 loss in 10 innings to the Detroit Tigers, for example.
In theory, stacking a lineup with nine righties against left-hander Tyler Alexander, who began the night with an .848 OPS allowed against them, should result in a relatively low-stress night for manager Charlie Montoyo and Co.
Factor in Robbie Ray starting and delivering his latest gem in a season that deserves more appreciation for how pivotal it’s been to the club’s fortunes, and everything seemed to have lined up in their favour.
Instead, late leverage once again found the Blue Jays, as Alexander escaped jams in the second and third unscathed, surrendered Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 36th homer of the season – and first since Aug. 8 – leading off the fourth and then held things down through the seventh.
As a result, the Blue Jays once again had to sweat through the final frames, and once again gave up a late lead, as a Ray wild pitch Alejandro Kirk allowed to slip through the wickets tied the game 1-1 in the eighth. They then compounded matters by squandering two on and none out in both the eighth and ninth innings, gifting an out to a wild Gregory Soto on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt in the latter frame.
That proved costly in the 10th when pinch-hitter Harold Castro stayed back on a Trevor Richards changeup and dunked it into left field to bring in Willi Castro with the go-ahead run, and after a walk, Adam Cimber surrendered run-scoring singles to Jonathan Schoop and Jeimer Candelario.
The entire rally came with two outs, adding a cruel variation to an all-too-familiar fate for the Blue Jays, who went quietly in the bottom half to lose for the sixth time in seven games and fall to 2-8 in extra innings before a crowd of 14,649.
While the bullpen again didn’t get it done, the offence is ultimately responsible for this one, going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position while hitting into four double plays.
That Montoyo chose to ride Ray, even as his pitch count climbed all the way to 109, is both a comment on how dominant the lefty was, and the Blue Jays’ lack of faith in the options behind him. Essentially they preferred having Ray face Robbie Grossman and Jonathan Schoop a fourth time to any of their fresh set-up arms right after an off-day – a call validated by the 10th inning.
No matter, as everything the Blue Jays do in leverage outside of Jordan Romano of late seems to backfire as it did this time. Zack Short opened the eighth with a single, was promptly sacrificed to second by Grayson Greiner and then cleverly stole third to force the infield in for leadoff man Grossman.
His fly ball to right field wasn’t deep enough to score the run but with Schoop up, Ray bounced a slider through Kirk’s five-hole and poof went the lead. Schoop struck out two pitches later, capping a brilliant eight-inning, five-hit, 11-strikeout from Ray that wasn’t enough.
They squandered an opportunity in the bottom of the eighth, after Santiago Espinal and Bo Bichette reached to open the frame, and again in the ninth, when Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. opened the inning with walks, as pinch-hitter Breyvic Valera’s sacrifice bunt attempt led to a lead out at third base ahead of Randal Grichuk’s second double play of the night.
After Romano pitched a clean ninth, that led to Richards in the 10th and frustration.
