TORONTO – John Schneider is trying to curse less often in public, so he declined to share what ran through his mind Friday night, when Daulton Varsho hopped around in agony after being struck on the right pinky by a 96.9 m.p.h. Aaron Ashby sinker. Suffice to say, it wasn’t as genteel as the update the Toronto Blue Jays manager delivered Saturday on his centre-fielder, who was “feeling a little better, day-to-day.”
“Glad we dodged that bullet,” Schneider added.
The close call was the second of the week for the Blue Jays, as Ernie Clement suffered a small hairline fracture at the base of his left middle finger after being hit Monday by Joe Ryan, but not enough damage to land him on the injured list. Still, the incidents underline how quickly late-season attrition can pile up and erode depth.
All of which makes the days ahead of the Sept. 1 expansion of rosters a really interesting time for contending clubs, both on and off the field, as a small handful of veterans on teams out of the race shake loose. As long as such players are with a new organization before Sunday ends, they’re eligible for the post-season, so the recently released likes of Carlos Santana and Walker Buehler, or on-waivers Isiah Kiner-Falefa, for example, offer up intriguing final opportunities to further pad depth.
For a Blue Jays team facing tests on multiple fronts – amplified by Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, decided when closer Jeff Hoffman allowed homers by Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich to open the ninth and an RBI double to Isaac Collins later in the frame – profile must meet need.
And there’s no clear path to get what they probably need most right now – some breathing room for their relievers to work through their current rough patch.
Kevin Gausman certainly did his part Saturday over seven dominant innings, allowing only one earned run while striking out eight as he duelled with Quinn Priester. But the offence only managed to scratch out one run for him – on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sacrifice fly in the sixth that opened the scoring – and that was erased in the seventh, when a strange Sal Frelick chopper carried Gausman into the first-base line where he got the out but couldn’t make a throw home to prevent Christian Yelich from scoring to tie the game 1-1.
The Brewers bullpen kept it there until the ninth, when Hoffman gave up the solo shot to open the inning and was pulled with two outs after Collins’ double made it 4-1. A sellout crowd of 41,424 booed as he left the field, marking a second straight day the bullpen allowed a game to unravel, and a third on a now 2-3 homestand.
At 5-6 over their last 11 games, the Blue Jays (78-58) have also allowed the New York Yankees (75-60), who faced the Chicago White Sox later Saturday, and the Boston Red Sox (75-61), who were facing the Pittsburgh Pirates, to whittle down their lead atop the AL East.
They’ll try to salvage the series finale against the powerhouse Brewers (85-52) on Sunday, when Max Scherzer starts against Brandon Woodruff.
