Jays shuffle deck but bust against Padres
Things don’t go quite as planned as Dickey takes over Estrada’s start
In some convoluted, twisted way, the genesis of Wednesday’s ugly 8-4 Blue Jays loss to the Padres with R.A. Dickey on the mound can be traced to catcher Russell Martin’s not-so-excellent misadventure with the sauna and shower on Friday.
Due to a combination of circumstances, mixed with manager John Gibbons’ on-the-fly strategy, Dickey was pitching on short rest, taking over Marco Estrada’s turn in the rotation. He allowed seven runs in 52⁄ innings despite just four Padres hits.
3 It seems not to have worked, so why do it? What’s the best reason for flipping Dickey and Estrada? He can play, but Martin is still nursing that twisted knee from his freak shower slipup, dizzied, it seems, by too much time in the sauna. Because of that, given the 12-inning night game Tuesday, Josh Thole would have been asked to catch Wednesday versus the Padres. So instead of having his backup catcher Wednesday and again for Dickey on Friday, Gibbons chose to flip the two assignments. Unfortunately, Dickey struggled once again, three straight losses since the break.
“It may not be the results we want, but I’ve got no doubts about that,” Gibbons said of the imperfect storm that led to his decision.
“I thought he had a pretty good knuckleball today. They got some big hits, a couple of homers and a big double. There’s a lot of reasons we did it, didn’t work out, I don’t regret that. I tip my hat and appreciate (Dickey) doing it for us.”
The bad news for the Jays is Dickey’s record dropped to 7-12 with a 4.66 ERA.
It was the fourth game this season in which he allowed six earned runs, a season high. More bad? In his past two starts, both home losses, studying the last 39 batters faced by the 41-year-old knuckleballer, he has allowed 11 hits, including two doubles and four homers, with six walks, three hit batters and 13 runs. The opponent batting average is .367 and his OPS 1.346. He is five games under .500.
This is usually the time of the season when Dickey’s fortunes begin riding an upward path towards a winning record, much as it happened last year. Does he ever allow self-doubt to creep in after these three tough outings in a row coming out of the all-star break? “I think it’s only human,” he said. “You question some of the methods, some of the selections. You go back and watch tape and think maybe I should have done this differently or what-not. At the end of the day, if I’ve learned anything through my experiences as a baseball player, you’ve got to have blinders on and trust the pedigree. I know it’s in there. It’s been in there for a number of years.
“I still have a third of my season left. There’s reason for optimism there and I’m going to roll it out.”
The good news for the Jays is Estrada will benefit from two extra days of rest for his wonky back that is good enough to pitch, but far from perfect. Plus, he will have the familiar Martin behind the plate instead of Thole. The all-star right-hander returned from the 15-day DL last Friday against the M’s and will be pitching on his seventh day. In fact, against the first-place O’s, the Jays will have their three most effective starters — Estrada, followed by J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez.
There was no score into the third inning Wednesday, but with one out, Dickey plunked Brett Wallace and allowed a homer to left by third baseman Adam Rosales. Recall that in his previous start against Seattle, the knuckleballer hit two batters in a row setting up a decisive Nelson Cruz grand slam.
The Padres have homered in 25 straight games, the longest streak in the majors this year and a franchise record. The major-league record for consecutive games with a home run is 27 by the Texas Rangers in 2002. With 123 homers in 102 games, the Padres are on pace for a franchise record.
In the fourth, the usually reliable Jays defence let Dickey down. With two out, he allowed a walk, then catcher Christian Bethancourt ripped a double to the centre field wall. Kevin Pillar bobbled the carom, then dropped it. Ezequiel Carrera then got the ball to Devon Travis, whose one-hop relay bounced off Josh Donaldson with Dickey in the wrong position to back up the throw. Both runners scored.
That must certainly be a jarring sight for a manager who is more used to seeing his club on “Plays of the Night.”
“We play better than that,” Gibbons said. “It’s one of those plays that happens every now and then, but that’s rare for us. What happens sometimes is that ball’s in the gap and there’s a chance for (a triple). It’s tough to slow yourself down to grab that thing. That’s unusual for us.”
The Jays, trailing 5-0, scored without benefit of a hit in the fifth inning on alert baserunning by Travis. He walked and advanced to second, reading a ball in the dirt that did not get out of the catcher’s shadow. He advanced to third on a grounder, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Darwin Barney. The Jays added three more in the sixth, sparked by a two-run double by Pillar.
The two newest Blue Jays joined in. Melvin Upton Jr. played left and batted cleanup, with a hit and a run. Right-handed reliever Joaquin Benoit made his debut in a shutout ninth inning.