Same old story as bullpen caves in
BLUE JAYS: Toronto rallies from early seven-run deficit, but Cecil coughs up four runs in ninth
The big comeback was there and then it wasn’t.
Instead of joy, the Blue Jays and a packed house could only taste the bitterness of ash.
Overcoming a seven-run deficit to take a lead and then spitting the bit going down the stretch to lose in a photo finish is about as tough as it gets, but that’s what the Jays and their fans had to endure Sunday afternoon in their 13-9 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
“It’s going to be painful, the flight to Tampa (the Jays open a threegame series against the Rays Monday), but we have to put it in the past because the game is already over,” Jose Reyes said. “If you carry it into the game tomorrow that is not going to be good for us.
“We know it’s tough but we just need to put it in the past and try and get it tomorrow.”
Oh, the Jays showed heart after picking themselves up off the mat when faced with a 7-0 deficit but so too did the Orioles who didn’t sag after that lead evaporated by the end of the fourth.
In the end, it came down to another bad inning on the mound by closer Brett Cecil and a mystifying non play by shortstop Reyes.
Cecil’s inability to throw strikes in the ninth surfaced when asked to preserve a 9-9 tie. With one out, he issued back-to-back walks. That usually spells doom and it did.
J.J. Hardy followed with a chopper over the mound that Reyes should have been able to make a play on to get, at least, one out. Instead, he took a hesitant step to his left and stood there as the ball bounced into centre for an RBI single.
On the mound, Cecil threw up his arms in despair.
Ryan Flaherty followed with a tworun triple and, that folks, was that.
Afterwards, Reyes accepted the blame.
“I got a little bit confused,” Reyes said about the grounder that bounced by on his side of second base. “That’s no excuse. That should be a doubleplay there and Cecil would be out of the inning. So, it’s no excuse at all.”
Playing second was Munenori Kawasaki and he moved on the ground ball as well, but Reyes was far closer.
“I thought Kawa was right there, that’s why I kind of gave up. I had to charge that ball and try to make the play in that situation there,” Reyes said.
In the clubhouse, Cecil had that 1,000-yard stare.
He looked beat and bewildered at the same time.
It was the second time in his last three outings when he was on the mound, got a ground ball that could have been a double-play and both times it wasn’t turned.
He brought up the fact that he may be tipping his pitches, perhaps hoping that’s the reason for his ineffectiveness.
“I’m just battling right now,” Cecil said. “I thought I might be tipping some pitches so I’ll have to go back and see if I’m still doing it (the Jays thought he was guilty of it early in the season and fixed).
“I thought I made some pretty good pitches, especially to Hardy (when he had him 0-2) that they just spit on, weren’t even offering on them. I thought that was kind of bizarre.”
It was Father’s Day and the game should have provided John Gibbons with the 500th win of his Blue Jays managerial career.
Now he’ll have to wait another day.
After it was over he seemed as dispirited as his players.
Few games have been as wild and wacky and in the end, as heartbreaking.