Blue Jays swept by Orioles as offensive woes continue in homestand finale

TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays’ 10-game homestand began fairly heartily. It opened with a three-game sweep towards the National League-leading Atlanta Braves throughout a sequence that showcased a number of the finest components of what the house facet can provide. 

But oh, how rapidly issues can change in baseball. 

The Blue Jays ended their homestand in heart-breaking trend with an 8-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in 11 innings in entrance of 41,643 at Rogers Centre on Sunday. The defeat capped a three-game sweep and the Blue Jays’ second-straight extra-innings loss.

And not solely is the membership reeling, having misplaced six of its final seven, however the Blue Jays are coping with an ice-cold offence that’s having bother with runners in scoring positions.

“We have tons of chances and just not really coming through,” mentioned supervisor John Schneider. “It’s kind of at the point where it’s, ‘Enough’s enough.’ You’re waiting for it to turn — it will, not I think it will, I know it will — but in order to get there, the guys are just going to have to continue to work their asses off to do it and not just expect that it’s going to happen.”

The Blue Jays entered Sunday rating twenty fourth in baseball with a .237 common with runners in scoring place. Over their previous six video games — together with Sunday’s 3-for-16 exhibiting — the membership has simply eight hits in 66 at-bats (.121) with runners on second or third base. 

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“The work every day is consistent and right now, when it kind of snowballs like this, you want to do a little bit too much,” mentioned Schneider. “You can’t. You got to reel it in. You have to stay with your approach. You have to understand what pitchers are doing.”

Among the prime probabilities to attain on Sunday:

• George Springer led off the underside of the primary with a single up the center. He stole second and superior to 3rd on Bo Bichette’s infield single. A fantastic scenario, little doubt. But Vladimir Guerrero Jr. promptly struck out, as did Brandon Belt, whereas Bichette was caught attempting to steal second base to finish the body.

• The bases have been loaded with two out for Bichette within the second, when he promptly flew out to proper subject. 

• Another bases-loaded scenario within the sixth inning with Kevin Kiermaier stepping to the plate towards left-hander Cionel Perez, who had simply walked Danny Jansen on 4 pitches. Kiermaier drove the primary pitch he noticed to shortstop, which was flipped to second for an inning-ending double play.

• Matt Chapman — who put the Blue Jays on the board within the second inning with a solo dwelling run — had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly within the seventh inning to tie the sport at two, however that was adopted by a Whit Merrifield strikeout. Sure, the Blue Jays scored, however ideally would have appreciated to plate extra than simply the one run.

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• And lastly, some honourable mentions that emphasize the state of the offence: Cavan Biggio was tagged out at second after oversliding nicely previous the bottom and Merrifield, representing the successful run within the tenth inning, was picked off at first by the pitcher.

The misplaced alternatives have been plentiful and overshadowed a robust outing by Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, who was his stellar self whereas twirling an eight-inning gem. 

The right-hander allowed simply two runs on six hits, strolling two and placing out 4. With his velocity up throughout the board, Gausman leaned on a fastball that averaged 95.2 m.p.h. and topped out at 98 m.p.h. He tossed a season-high 115 pitches, giving the Blue Jays offence as a lot time as doable to kind itself out.

“Just empty the tank, give it all you got,” Gausman mentioned when requested of his mindset getting into the eighth inning having thrown 99 pitches. “Obviously done well enough to get to that point so just stay where you’re at and believe in yourself and rely on your defence. Today they made some incredible plays behind me that helped me out.”

One such mind-blowing play got here within the fourth inning, when Gunnar Henderson crushed a fastball to deep centre subject. Kiermaier gave chase at full pace earlier than timing his leap and leaping along with his glove arm totally prolonged to make a highlight-reel catch as he crashed into the wall.

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“He looked like he was floating out there,” mentioned Gausman. “I assumed he jumped manner too early, however he simply stayed within the air and clearly made an awesome play. Was glad he was okay after as a result of he hit the wall fairly exhausting.

“He’s been that sparkplug for us, really from Day 1.”

The sport stayed tied at two till the tenth inning, when Cedric Mullins singled to proper subject off Blue Jays reliever Nate Pearson to drive in Jorge Mateo. In the underside half, Merrifield knotted the rating once more with a single up the center off Orioles reliever Austin Voth.

In the eleventh, although, the Orioles delivered a knockout blow by stringing collectively 4 consecutive hits off Blue Jays reliever Yimi Garcia to plate three runs and Mullins adopted that by crushing a double to the right-centre subject hole that added two extra and put the sport out of attain. 

The loss ensured the Blue Jays completed their homestand at 4-6. It started in promising trend with the sweep over the Braves, however that was adopted by three losses in 4 video games to the New York Yankees after which three straight to the O’s.

While Schneider mentioned he believes his gamers have dealt with the latest skid “extremely well,” Gausman famous they’re assured as a bunch that issues will ultimately click on within the different course.

“We’re grinding right now,” he mentioned. “Everybody’s trying to obviously get that big hit in the big situation. But teams have really pitched really well against us. The arms we saw in the last two series are pretty impressive. So, just a mixture of that and facing really good teams … But these guys, you always feel like they’re going to put it together and they’re going to figure it out. Obviously, it hasn’t been the last couple games, but I still feel confident in every one of those guys.”

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Sunday’s loss dropped the Blue Jays’ document towards AL East opponents to 6-11 this season and issues gained’t get any simpler within the brief time period because the membership now units out on a street journey that options 4 video games towards the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays and three versus the Minnesota Twins, who sit atop the AL Central.

“We play the team that’s leading the division for the next four days, so we don’t really have the time to hang our heads,” mentioned Gausman. “We’re going to Tampa playing a really good team and obviously we need to turn it around. That’s the good thing about baseball — you don’t even have time to really think. We play again tomorrow and [are in the middle of] 17 straight games so we’ve got to figure it out.”

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