MILWAUKEE — The Toronto Blue Jays parted with Cavan Biggio last Friday and said goodbye definitively Wednesday when they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor-league reliever Braydon Fisher, reinforcing the shift in both their roster and its usage.
Spencer Horwitz, whose promotion from triple-A Buffalo forced the Biggio move, is now almost a regular who’ll get the bulk of reps at second base. He’s also hit leadoff in three of his last five outings, pushing Davis Schneider, who ended an 0-for-18 skid with a solo shot in the first inning, down to the two-spot in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
With Horwitz getting more work at second, Schneider is going to get more run in left field, meaning more days off for Kevin Kiermaier with Daulton Varsho sliding over to centre. Daniel Vogelbach, meanwhile, has been eating into Justin Turner’s DH at-bats while Vladimir Guerrero Jr., rested in the finale versus the NL Central leaders, recently made two starts at third base as manager John Schneider keeps trying different combinations to unlock a steady stream of production.
“Trying to get guys on base, really, for the middle of the order,” is the way he explained the Horwitz-Davis Schneider flip.
There is plenty of flux on the pitching side, too, and finding some consistency is essential for the Blue Jays (33-35) to take the next step now that they’re back hovering around .500.
They lost games Monday and Wednesday to the Brewers (40-28) with a chance to climb back to the break-even point and will now try to get there during a 12-game stretch that features three-game series versus Cleveland and Boston at home and then on the road.
Schneider’s solo shot gave them a 1-0 lead and Chris Bassitt, rather remarkably, made it stand over five shutout innings despite allowing five hits and four walks. Key is that he held the Brewers 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position but they grinded him out in doing so, with pitch counts by inning 22, 8, 17, 31 and 22.
That left a lot of game for a depleted bullpen and that cost the Blue Jays before an American Family Field crowd of 30,444 when with two out in the decisive sixth, Zach Pop issued a walk to Blake Perkins.
Brice Turang followed with a single that put runners on the corners and then took off for second, prompting Alejandro Kirk to throw through on a set play anticipating that Perkins would charge for home. But Kirk bounced his throw to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who’d taken a couple steps in to shorten the throw home, the ball skipped into the outfield and Perkins tied the game 1-1.
William Contreras then bounced a ball through the right side to bring home Turang and after Tim Mayza took over, stole second and scored on a Christian Yelich chopper through the left side. Willy Adames followed by bashing a hanging slider 446 feet off the scoreboard in centre field that really opened things up and Sal Frelick followed with a bunt single before Jake Bauers grounded out to end the inning.
If you wanted an Exhibit A of what Rhys Hoskins described as the Brewers’ “organized chaos,” well this was it.
Now, all of it could have been averted with a good throw to second, as Perkins wasn’t even halfway home when the ball skipped by Kiner-Falefa, who would have had ample opportunity to get the runner at home.
But with an offence that managed only three hits through the first eight innings before a valiant three-run rally fell short in the ninth, the Blue Jays must be virtually perfect in all other aspects to win.
They did make it interesting when Ernie Clement doubled to open the ninth off Hoby Milner, Horwitz followed with an RBI single and Davis Schneider singled before closer Trevor Megill took over. After a wild pitch Bo Bichette’s RBI single made it 5-3, Danny Jansen walked, George Springer struck out and Kirk sent a sacrifice fly to the track in centre to make it a one-run game. Guerrero then lined out to deep centre to end it.
Their bullpen, thinned out by the injury to Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson’s demotion to get right, is another area where the Blue Jays are trying to find the right mix, with Pop, Nate Pearson and Trevor Richards pushed into more leverage recently.
Then there’s the rotation, with the vacancy created by Alek Manoah’s season-ending UCL tear. Four shutout innings with 10 strikeouts in a rehab start for triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday night seems to set up Yariel Rodriguez well to take over that slot, but it comes up Saturday meaning he’d have to jump into it on short rest.
An off-day Thursday allows the Blue Jays to push Jose Berrios up to Saturday so Rodriguez can take Sunday with both on regular rest, but John Schneider said it “would be our lean” to for Berrios to benefit from the extra day.
Still, the next steps for Rodriguez are “driving” the decision-making and starting him Saturday on short rest is “is something we’re talking about, just trying to do what’s best for everyone involved. The fact that he’s been pitching on a regular schedule, you don’t want to ignore that so a couple different options – that is, of course, if he’s back with the team.”
