TORONTO – When quality starting pitching is paired with small ball, some satisfying, hard-fought wins will often follow. Yet once the quality of pitching drops off, bunts, sac flies and singles are no longer enough to overcome big deficits and momentum disappears quickly.
On Sunday afternoon, the Blue Jays experienced that disappointment first-hand as the visiting Seattle Mariners rocked starting pitcher Easton Lucas and the Toronto offence had no answers on the way to an 8-3 loss in front of 25,752. While reliever Paxton Schultz stepped up with 4.1 outstanding innings to keep the game close in his MLB debut, the Blue Jays still lost the series finale, falling to 12-10 on the season before flying south to Houston.
“You’re missing the big hit,” manager John Schneider said. “That’s what the missing piece was this series.”
Big picture, the Blue Jays are still in a reasonably good spot considering the quality of their opposition so far this season, but this loss does raise questions about their rotation and their offence.
On the pitching side, Lucas was hit hard immediately, allowing a home run, a double and another home run to the first three hitters he faced. In each instance, he left hittable pitches over the heart of the plate and Dylan Moore, Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh made him pay with loud contact and three early runs.
By the time Lucas left the game, he’d allowed two walks and seven hits on his way to six earned runs and his worst start as a Blue Jay. While his stuff can work when it’s located perfectly, Lucas doesn’t overpower hitters, so he can’t afford to miss middle-middle the way he did Sunday.
“Just awful,” Lucas said afterwards. “I wasn’t executing pitches. I wasn’t throwing strikes. I was kind of just bad all around … Every time I just managed to screw it up.”
Later, former Blue Jays slugger Rowdy Tellez homered for the third straight game, hitting a two-run shot off Dillon Tate, who was added to the roster along with Schultz Sunday morning.
It was only thanks to Schultz that this game stayed as close as it did. The right-handed reliever was added to the team’s 40-man roster a couple of hours before the game, and ended up contributing immediately with a clutch, scoreless relief performance in which he struck out eight and allowed only two hits.
“A surreal feeling,” said Schultz, a 27-year-old who was drafted in the 14th round in 2019. “To finally be out there and perform and have success was unbelievable.”
“That was amazing,” Schneider said. “A day he’s going to remember for a long time.”
A car service shuttled Tate and Schultz to Toronto from Buffalo Sunday morning, but it wasn’t until they were nearing Rogers Centre that Schultz realized he’d be an active player and not just there as a contingency option on the taxi squad. By day’s end, he had the ball from his first major-league strikeout as well as the lineup card from his debut.
While he didn’t get an invitation to big-league spring training this year, Schultz embraced the mantra ‘delayed, not denied’ to keep himself focused.
“I knew that if I took care of what I needed to, this opportunity would come and I’m glad it did,” he said.
“I’m excited for him,” added catcher Tyler Heineman, who also contributed three hits. “He’s a bulldog.”
How the Blue Jays proceed with their fifth rotation spot isn’t completely clear, but Schneider said “as of now,” the Blue Jays plan to continue rolling with Lucas as their fifth starter with his next appearance tentatively slated for next weekend against the Yankees.
If the Blue Jays were to explore alternatives to Lucas, Schultz would deserve consideration while prospect Jake Bloss pitched well at triple-A Sunday. Bloss is already on the 40-man roster, but given his slow start with Buffalo (7.31 ERA), more seasoning in the minors may be sensible.
If the Blue Jays were comfortable pushing their veteran starters a little harder, they could use upcoming off days to skip the fifth spot in the rotation while starting Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt in New York on regular rest. In that scenario, the Blue Jays would give their established arms less rest, but they could get away without a fifth starter until May 3.
So far, that doesn’t appear to be the team’s preferred plan.
“I don’t think we’re going to overwork some of our veteran pitchers,” Schneider said. “When you show signs of doing it at this level, there’s a belief that you can do it. (Lucas) has got to get back to doing it.”
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In the meantime, the Blue Jays must also find ways to hit for more power. They do other things well offensively, as evidenced by their 11 hits Sunday, including two apiece from Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but they didn’t hit a home run in the series finale, so they rank 29th among the 30 MLB teams with only 12 home runs through 22 games. It’s clear they need more.
“That will come,” Schneider said. “And I think that will come fairly quickly. I don’t think there’s any reason to panic.”
Until that changes, there will be continued pressure on the pitching staff to perform at their very best. Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, Lucas wasn’t up to that challenge this time.
