ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – An unintended consequence of the Toronto Blue Jays’ attempt to both diversify their offence and improve their defence last off-season is the sacrifice of some power it took to get it done.
No matter what, they were going to have a different look in 2023, but with a week remaining, the gap of 24 homers between a year ago and now (200 to 176 and counting) is part one reason why they’re in a down-to-the wire fight for a wild-card spot rather than comfortably in the post-season.
Still, this iteration of the Blue Jays has more ways to beat opponents, including the type of attrition baseball they’ve displayed during their current road trip, a talent that plays in the grind of October.
Worthwhile trade-off then?
“I love the defence, for one, I love the speed,” said manager John Schneider. “It’s tough. There are times where you try to force the issue with the steal and bunt, hit and running, something like that and then you still have guys that can do damage, so you don’t want to get in their way of potentially doing that. It’s just a matter of seeing how the game, or the stretch of games, is unfolding and saying, ‘OK, we’ve got to do a little something different.’ But it is nice that you have different ways to do it, for sure. You’re just looking for it to click one way or another. If games like (a 6-1 win Friday) night are the way we’ve got to do it, that’s totally fine.”
Games like Saturday’s wild 7-6 walk-off loss to the Tampa Bay Rays fit that profile, too, when the Blue Jays erased a five-run deficit but then couldn’t close things out in the ninth.
Jordan Romano gave up a game-tying RBI single to Curtis Mead and then, after an apparent inning-ending double play was overturned on replay, Josh Lowe sliced a ball to left to bring in the winning run.
That comeback came after the injury-riddled Rays, looking nothing like their usually fundamentally sound selves, had unravelled before a Tropicana Field crowd of 22,655. A pair of errors and a wild pitch opened the door to a four-run Blue Jays sixth and a one-hit, one-wild-pitch, three-walk, one-hit-by-pitch rally produced a go-ahead two-run rally in the eighth.
But the Blue Jays didn’t open the game up when they had the chance, missing a chance to strengthen their hold on a wild-card spot. At 86-69, they’ll surrender some ground to someone after beginning the day a half-game up on the Houston Astros (85-69) and 1.5 games up on the Seattle Mariners (84-69). The Mariners were at the AL-West leading Texas Rangers (85-68) while the Astros hosted Kansas City.
The Rays unloaded early on Hyun Jin Ryu, getting home runs from Yandy Diaz leading off the game, Josh Lowe with a three-run drive in the first inning, plus a solo shot from Christian Bethancourt in the fourth.
The game opened a crack for them in sixth, when Kevin Kiermaier’s speed forced third baseman Mead into a bad throw that pulled Yandy Diaz off the bag at first, leading to an error. Tyler Heineman then struck out on a wild pitch and reached first when Christian Bethancourt’s throw to Diaz was low.
That put an end to starter Zack Littell’s day and the Blue Jays then went to work on Shawn Armstrong, getting a two-run double from George Springer, base hit from Bo Bichette, RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and a run-scoring double from Cavan Biggio. That made it 5-4.
Then, after Whit Merrifield was thrown out trying to score on a Kiermaier to end the seventh, pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal opened the eighth with a double, was replaced by the speedy Cam Eden who advanced on a Springer groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Walks to Guerrero and Biggio and a Matt Chapman hit by pitch before a Merrifield walk brought in the go-ahead run.
