DENVER – For a team with ground to make up in the playoff race, the losses of Matt Chapman and Bo Bichette could have been fatal.
Both offensively and defensively, Chapman and Bichette are centrally important to the Blue Jays’ efforts. Midway through the season, there’s just no way to replace them – or at least there shouldn’t be. But thanks to Davis Schneider and Ernie Clement, the Blue Jays are getting by rather well without their two star infielders.
Now obviously the Blue Jays are eagerly awaiting the return of both former all-stars, and their progress continued at Coors Field on Friday evening. But for now, Schneider and Clement are stepping up in a big way. And at a time that results matter more than process, their contributions were vitally important in the Blue Jays’ latest roller coaster ride of a win, 13-9 over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Because the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros lost, Friday’s win means the Blue Jays gain a full game on the teams they’re chasing in the wild-card race. Entering play Saturday, the Blue Jays now trail Texas by 1.5 games.
Clement homered and tripled on his way to a three-RBI night while Schneider contributed an RBI double, a walk and two runs scored. It’s hard to ask for much more from players who were might have been labelled minor-league lifers a month ago.
Brandon Belt and Danny Jansen also homered Friday, but it was Jansen’s replacement who may have had the biggest swing of the game. With one out and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Alejandro Kirk pinch hit for Jansen, who had to leave with a right hand contusion after taking a foul tip off of his hand.
The resulting three-run double gave the Blue Jays enough breathing room to improve to 74-61 on the season. All told, it was a positive day for the Blue Jays even if they had to use closer Jordan Romano to escape the ninth after Chad Green allowed four runs in his season debut.
As for starter Hyun Jin Ryu, he provided five innings of two-run ball – the Coors Field equivalent of seven shutout frames. He could have kept pitching, but with a fully rested bullpen after an off day, manager John Schneider turned to the bullpen instead.
Before the game, Bichette and Chapman worked out on the field, fuelling optimism that they could be back after minimum 10-day stints. Bichette (quad) hit indoors, fielded grounders hit directly at him and ran while Chapman (finger) shagged fly balls to work on his conditioning. The soonest either player could return would be next weekend against the Kansas City Royals.
“That’s the hope,” said John Schneider.
In the meantime, though, the Blue Jays are getting by. And while it may seem like these contributions are coming out of nowhere, that’s not exactly accurate when it comes to Schneider, a 28th-round pick, and Clement, who signed a minor-league deal in March after being released by the Athletics.
Remember, the Blue Jays have had plenty of chances to acquire other players. They considered bats like Mark Canha and Tommy Pham at the trade deadline before promoting Davis Schneider, who had more August home runs (six) than the ex-Mets combined (five).
As the end of August neared, at least one established middle infielder made it known that he’d be interested in going to Toronto only to be rebuffed, one source said. The Blue Jays told the free agent they believe in Clement’s offensive adjustments and ability to play all around the diamond.
Later, the Blue Jays did extensive background work on the various players waived this week. They had the payroll flexibility to make claims, but some players (starter Lucas Giolito) weren’t fits for this roster while others (reliever Reynaldo Lopez) went to teams with higher waiver priority.
That left former Blue Jay Randal Grichuk unclaimed, but once again the Blue Jays clearly preferred their internal options here or else they would have made a claim (while it was somewhat surprising to see the outfielder clear waivers, a second source suggested that wouldn’t have happened if he’d been made available when waivers were quieter).
Regardless, the Blue Jays showed faith in players who might easily have been written off as organizational depth and are now enjoying the benefits of that belief.
Of course one win at Coors Field is just the beginning of what the Blue Jays need to accomplish on their road trip through Colorado and Oakland. Up next, Yusei Kikuchi will brave Coors Field as the Blue Jays seek to build more of the momentum they so badly need.
