TORONTO – When Bo Bichette returned from the injured list nine days ago, it underscored the fact that the Toronto Blue Jays had dodged a bullet. The shortstop was removed in the fourth inning on July 31 and diagnosed with right patella tendinitis and while that looked dire at the time, it turned out things could have been much worse.
Bichette missed only 16 games before rejoining the team for a stretch run that was beginning to intensify. It almost felt as if the Blue Jays — who’ve avoided major injuries this season, unlike several of their American League counterparts — got lucky.
The club will have to hope for similar good fortune again with Bichette leaving Sunday’s game due to right quad tightness. That injury, coupled with third baseman Matt Chapman leaving in the sixth with right middle finger inflammation, added to what was a disappointing 10-7 loss in 11 innings for the Blue Jays at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians in front of 41,978 at Rogers Centre.
Kole Calhoun smacked a two-run double to right-field off Blue Jays reliever Jay Jackson in the 11th inning and Ramon Laureano followed that with a two-run homer to secure the win for the Guardians in the rubber match of the three-game series. The Blue Jays now sit 2.5 games out of the third wild card spot.
Bichette grounded to second base in the fifth inning and jogged gingerly to first. He was replaced by Santiago Espinal at shortstop in the next inning. It’s unknown at the moment if there’s a connection between his quad issue and the injury that landed him on the IL.
Chapman, who missed time earlier this month with a right-middle finger injury sustained in the weight room, was removed from the game in the sixth inning and replaced by pinch-hitter Whit Merrifield.
Making the Blue Jays’ loss even more dispiriting was that its offence continued to show signs of waking up with a strong power output. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. clubbed a two-run homer into the second deck in the opening frame, while George Springer added a solo shot in the fourth and Davis Schneider contributed a two-run blast in the seventh.
The rookie lifted a 3-1 sinker from Guardians right-hander Noah Syndergaard over the left-field wall for a two-run shot that gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead. It was Schneider’s second homer in as many days and third in three games. The 24-year-old now has five homers in 11 MLB games.
He added a key hustle double in the in the eighth and was replaced by pinch-runner Kevin Kiermaier, who scored on an RBI single from Daulton Varsho that knotted the game at 6-6.
Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi wasn’t at his sharpest but managed to keep the home side in the game. He surrendered a two-run shot to Jose Ramirez in the second inning that marked the first long ball he’s allowed since July 16 — a span of seven starts.
Calhoun led off the top of fourth with a double off Kikuchi, Laureano singled and Tyler Freeman lashed an RBI single up the middle to give the Guardians a 3-2 lead. Myles Straw, the No. 9 hitter, added to that lead with his own run-scoring single to right-centre field.
In total, Kikuchi allowed four runs on six hits over six innings. He walked two, struck out and generated 13 whiffs over his 95 pitches.
