SEATTLE — As the ball flew at 105-m.p.h. off Ty France’s bat towards the wall in deep centre, George Springer tracked it over his right shoulder, sprinting 60 feet towards the section of Seattle Mariners fans that had been heckling him all weekend.
He had a shot. He’s made crazy catches on screamers like that before. But the ball reached the top of the fence just a split second before he did, thudding off the thin yellow stripe ringing the outfield, only centimetres beyond Springer’s outstretched glove as the Toronto Blue Jays centre fielder leapt in vain.
Absorbing the wall’s impact with his left shoulder, Springer came down on his left foot first, then his right. Then the glove came flying off. Then he was immediately on his back, clutching his left leg. Then you knew something was wrong.
Maybe he spiked himself. Maybe he rolled the ankle. The broadcast replays weren’t clear. There was only Springer, trying to get to his feet, limping a few steps, and doubling back over as the two outfielders on either side of him waved to the dugout for the trainers.
Springer’s status going forward is the macro concern for the Blue Jays on a night in which there were many micro ones such as another bullpen implosion, another quiet night offensively, and another loss to the Seattle Mariners, 9-3. Those Mariners — who’ve made a habit of winning games like these — have now drawn level with the Blue Jays in the American League wild card race and will have an opportunity to surpass them in Sunday afternoon’s series finale. That’s not ideal. Not much that happened for the Blue Jays on Saturday was. But Springer’s injury remains concern number one.
That he walked off the field under his own power — slowly, gingerly, uncomfortably — is the only good thing to say about it. Springer’s been immense since hitting his stride a few weeks following a half-season’s absence with a right quad injury, leading the American League with 11 homers since the all-star break and winning consecutive AL player-of-the-week awards. Missing his bat atop the lineup for any stretch of time would be a considerable loss for a team in the thick of a competitive wild card race that needs all the help it can get.
It is no coincidence that Springer’s recent tear had coincided with the Blue Jays playing some of their best baseball of the season. The club was 35-35 through June 21, the day before Springer returned from that extended, early-season absence. With the three-time all-star and two-time silver slugger back in the fold, it went 27-18. His plate appearances set a selective-yet-aggressive tone atop a deepened batting order. His heavy bat sprays missiles all over the yard, 23 of his last 31 hits going for extra bases. His centre field defence has been spotless. He’s been everything the Blue Jays paid for with the largest free agent commitment in franchise history.
But the club may now have to go on without him. Already needing to score runs at a relentless clip to create large enough leads for a combustible bullpen to not burn through, Toronto could have to try to do that without Springer’s 163 OPS+ production. And even with Springer making four trips prior to his injury Saturday, the club still couldn’t generate enough offence to bounce back from Friday’s ninth-inning implosion and avoid a third consecutive loss.
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The Blue Jays certainly had their chances early against an unusually shaky Yusei Kikuchi, who walked four, hit another, and began his third trip through Toronto’s order in the fourth inning. But he also stranded six through those four frames and held the Blue Jays to 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, repeatedly MacGyvering his way out of jams.
Toronto did get two early runs off Kikuchi thanks to Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a solo shot in the second and drove in another with a single in the third. But too many opportunities were missed. Reese McGuire and Springer both struck out looking with the bases loaded in the second. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. struck out swinging with two on in the third, before Hernandez was caught stealing second to end the inning. And Marcus Semien struck out with a foul tip of a hung slider in the fourth, leaving two more runners on.
Bo Bichette came across on a Gurriel groundout in the fifth, as the Blue Jays finally scratched across a third run. But this was a night they should’ve gotten to Kikuchi for much more.
Meanwhile, Hyun Jin Ryu bounced back well from his worst outing as a Blue Jay six days prior, settling in after allowing a two-run France homer in the first to retire 14 in a row. A leadoff baserunner was quickly erased with a double play in the sixth. And Ryu was back out for the seventh having thrown only 75 pitches.
But then the wheels came off. At the end of an eight-pitch battle, Ryu left a full-count cutter up for France, who drove it just beyond Springer’s outstretched glove in centre. And after the Blue Jays centre fielder hobbled off, Ryu’s next pitch was a 90-m.p.h. fastball up and over the plate. That Kyle Seager just missed it, grounding out into a drawn-in infield, is a good example of results belying process. And Ryu missing the zone with four of his next five pitches — issuing only his second walk of the night — was enough of a signal for Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo to turn to his beleaguered bullpen.
Which is when results did line up with process, as Trevor Richards entered, missed badly with three pitches to give Luis Torrens a dead red fastball count, and left a heater up over the dish that the Mariners designated hitter lofted into the left field bullpen. Two pitches later: a better-located heater, but a similar result, as Jerred Kelenic went after one just off the plate and muscled it into that same bullpen.
It was truly a disastrous inning, one the Blue Jays entered with a 64.6 per cent win expectancy and exited at 7.2. One in which they coughed up a lead, brought eight batters to the plate, couldn’t keep the score close, and lost their star centre fielder. One in which nearly everything went wrong. How could things possibly get any worse?
Enter Rafael Dolis. Taking over the eighth, the mercurial right-hander went double, wild pitch, walk, walk, single, double before Montoyo mercifully got him out of there. He threw 12 pitches to five hitters and didn’t record an out. From a guy who’s had his share of rough innings this year, it was by far Dolis’ worst. Staked to a six-run lead, the Mariners cruised to the finish line from there.
Not ideal. Not what you want. But the Blue Jays can salvage a win Sunday and push the Mariners back to merely being on their heels. They can head into next week’s two-game set against the Nationals still having a chance at a winning road trip. They can turn this mini-skid around. They just might have to do it without an awfully important part of their roster.
