NEW YORK — As soon as the ball bounced off his glove, Isiah Kiner-Falefa knew he’d put Shane Bieber in a tough spot.
In the bottom of the first inning Tuesday, Ben Rice hit a ground ball to the second baseman, who was anticipating a low hop and a relatively routine play. But the grounder spun higher than expected, bounced off Kiner-Falefa’s glove and extended the first inning.
“Big error by me,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I understand the stakes of every out right there. (Afterwards), a lot was going through my mind.”
He knew right away that the error had extended Bieber’s inning, with tough at-bats against Yankees sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. still to come. What he didn’t yet realize is that the Blue Jays would continue playing uncharacteristically poor defence all night, costing themselves multiple runs in a game the Yankees would eventually win 9-6.
“Just didn’t play our game,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
Addison Barger was charged with a fielding error of his own for a missed pop up down the left field line and while Cody Bellinger was technically awarded a double for the sixth-inning fly ball that Anthony Santander completely missed, that was a defensive mistake, too.
Considering that the Blue Jays led all MLB teams with 38.5 defensive runs saved this season, and taking into account the windy conditions at Yankee Stadium, this appears now to be more blip than trend. While both plays should have been made, the wind may have contributed to the pop up Barger dropped and the ball that got past Santander.
“It was pretty swirly up there,” Barger said. “I felt like I was in position to make the play and it just started tailing toward the stands a little bit, which is kind of weird for a left-handed fly ball. Usually it would come back towards the line, but it took off the other way. I tried to get to it and it hit my glove.”
But while the explanation offers some context, those involved weren’t excusing what happened.
“No, no, no, I just think it was sloppy brand of baseball,” Kiner-Falefa said from the quiet visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium late Tuesday night, after the cameras had turned off and most of the Blue Jays had made their way toward the team buses. “It just wasn’t our night tonight. No it was, sloppy. It was sloppy. It is what it is. It wasn’t great.”
Added Ernie Clement: “If you let your foot off the gas for even a second, a good team will pounce on you.”
With another opportunity to advance Wednesday (Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT), the Blue Jays must tighten up their defence immediately. The Yankees are simply too good an offensive team to be given extra bases and extra outs. To play this sloppily is to invite late-game comebacks and risk extending the ALDS even further.
But while some adjustments may be required, the Blue Jays spoke of ‘flushing’ the loss and mentally moving on to Game 4.
“It’s baseball,” Schneider said. “It happens. It gets magnified this time of year, sure, but you’ve got to take care of the ball. Is it frustrating? Yeah, it’s frustrating, but you’ve got to come to work (and) get prepared. Physical errors happen. It’s part of the game. But you’ve got to move on.”
Tactically, the Blue Jays might consider relying less on Santander’s glove when possible given that he’s only played the field five times since coming back from the shoulder issue that cost him most of the season. Against right-hander Cam Schlittler Wednesday, there’s a good chance Nathan Lukes gets the start, for instance.
But otherwise, the Blue Jays are who they are and that’s typically been an elite defensive team.
“Tomorrow’s a new day,” said Louis Varland, who will start Game 4 after giving up a game-tying home run to Aaron Judge in the fourth inning.
Since Bieber went just 2.2 innings Tuesday, the Blue Jays relied heavily on their bullpen, asking six relievers to cover 5.1 innings. That workload will only intensify in Wednesday’s bullpen game, as Varland’s unlikely to pitch more than two innings.
“Everybody knows exactly what we need to do, and that’s to come out and play our brand of baseball,” Bieber said. “And I’m confident that we’ll be able to do that.”
Plus, with Schlittler on the mound for the Yankees, the Blue Jays may have a tough time at the plate. The right-hander struck out 12 in his playoff debut last week, sitting near 100 m.p.h. with his fastball.
With that in mind, defence won’t be the only concern for the Blue Jays in Game 4. But they’ve gotten this far thanks in large part to their fielding, so it stands to reason that they’ll need to tighten up their defence again to build on the success that has them leading the ALDS 2-1.
“We’ll see how we respond,” Kiner-Falefa said. “That’s the most important thing: how we bounce back.”
Or, as Clement put it: “You want to win. That’s all that matters.”
