Jays loss highlights need for help
Team hopes to shore up rotation soon
TORONTO • For R.A. Dickey in the month of June, this was an average outing.
He gave up three runs in six innings. Untimely walks hurt him. And the Blue Jays’ highpowered offence experienced ignition trouble while he was in the game.
The consequence was a 3-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a four-game series.
Dickey’s record is 3-8. In six June starts, his ERA is 3.32, his record 1-3.
While he struggled over the first six weeks of the season — again — the Jays can typically count on him to work deep into his starts. He has pitched six or more innings in 12 of his 16 outings. Mark Buehrle, who pitches Wednesday, has gone six or more in 12 of 15 starts.
The rest of the Jays starters have pitched six innings in only 20 of 47 starts. Drew Hutchison has done it only six times in 16 starts.
All of which underscores the Jays’ need to upgrade their rotation if they are to remain in playoff contention. The month of July will be challenging on the field — it includes 16 of 19 games on the road in one stretch — and off it, as general manager Alex Anthopoulos continues his bid to make critical improvements as the July 31 trade deadline looms.
“We still need to make upgrades in the rotation and the bullpen, that goes without saying,” Anthopoulos said Monday during a radio interview.
In recent days, he has held some serious but fruitless trade talks. So many teams believe they remain in contention that swinging a deal before the all-star break, or even before the trade deadline, is a difficult challenge.
At least, Anthopoulos would like to land a starter. If he can manage that, and the injured Aaron Sanchez can return in a timely fashion — say just before or just after the break — then Sanchez could become a solution to the Jays’ bullpen needs.
“I hope that we’re in a position that we don’t have room for (Sanchez) because the rotation’s doing so well or we’ve gone out and acquired some guys and we have that much depth,” Anthopoulos said during his radio appearance. “We’re not there yet, but that’d be a great problem to have.”
The Jays are discovering lately that they cannot expect their vaunted offence to overcome all obstacles. Against the Red Sox, they could manage just a run and five hits off Clay Buchholz in eight innings. In five of their past six games, they have scored three or fewer runs.
And on the days Dickey starts, he often has a slim margin for error. His undoing against Boston came in the third inning, when he started with a walk, single and another walk. Xander Bogaerts followed with a two-run double.
Josh Donaldson doubled home the Jays’ only run in the sixth inning. Donaldson also made a sensational catch as he slid into the wall in foul ground adjacent to the thirdbase line.