Trouble is double on long day for Jays
It was a seven-game road trip for the Blue Jays that ended 3-4 but felt a lot worse. The Jays flew home after being swept in the day-night doubleheader at Busch Stadium on Thursday, blowing a 4-0 lead in the first game in late innings, then losing 8-4 in the 11th. They basically just showed up for one inning in the nightcap, going down gracelessly to Adam Wainwright by a 6-4 score.
“It could have been a good day,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Tough first ballgame, then we fell behind early. We made a run. Long, tough day getting swept.”
The Jays need to see some changes in both player roles and team luck. With Aaron Sanchez set to return to the rotation as early as Sunday, it could be argued that Thursday’s twinbill was a competition for the final rotation spot between Mat Latos and Casey Lawrence, working Games 1 and 2 respectively. There has been no progress reported on J.A. Happ’s left elbow, so one of these pitchers will remain.
“I just didn’t make pitches tonight and paid for it pretty much throughout the night,” Lawrence said, after allowing six runs and 10 hits in five innings. “It was a culmination of things, not executing pitch by pitch and falling behind in counts.”
If this was mano-a-mano, then Latos was the clear winner, working six shutout innings in the matinee, leaving with a 4-0 lead the Jays could not hold. When Latos was told in late March that he was not going to make the Jays’ opening day 25-man roster, he had the option of being released and becoming a free agent again, or accepting an assignment to Triple-A Buffalo. The 29-year-old chose to become a Bison, likely with an assurance that, should someone in the Jays’ rotation be injured, he would have his opportunity. He’s taking advantage of that opportunity.
“I was throwing the ball down in the zone and hitting my spots more than my last outing,” Latos said of the difference between two starts. “You still get nervous, you still get that anxiety when you compete. Today was a better day than my last outing. I’m just trying to fill in a hole right now for a couple guys that are hurt and just make the most of it and the best of it I can.”
Meanwhile, the 29-year-old rookie, Lawrence worked five nondescript innings, allowing all six Cardinals runs, including a solo homer by Dexter Fowler. The Jays made the second game interesting with a four-run outburst in the fifth inning, capped by a three-run homer off Wainwright by Kendrys Morales.
But there continue to be serious concerns surrounding Jays struggling closer Roberto Osuna, who makes it interesting every time out.
The 22-year-old yielded a gametying two-run homer to Randal Grichuk in the ninth inning of Game 1, and has blown three saves in his four attempts.
“To be honest, I feel really good right now,” a mystified Osuna said. “I just don’t know what’s going on right now. I don’t know, man. I feel good every time I go out there. It’s tough with everything happening after two outs. One pitch, for some reason, and it’s hard to figure out. I don’t think I’m doing anything different . . . I feel great. I can’t understand it.”
There were likely a number of Jays’ pitchers equally confused. Five relievers allowed runs as the Cardinals scored all of their runs in Game 1 from the seventh inning on, with Matt Carpenter ending things with a walk-off grand slam off J.P. Howell, who was facing his first hitter since coming off the disabled list.
Kolten Wong led off the Cards’ 11th with a triple against Ryan Tepera. Manager John Gibbons walked the next two batters intentionally to load the bases and, after Aledmys Diaz popped up to left, Gibbons brought in Howell. Carpenter’s slam, on a full count pitch, was the Cards’ first walk-off grand slam since Aaron Miles on July 20, 2008.
“We were in a good position, we had the lead,” a deflated Gibbons said. “You always like to win that first game of a double dip and it got away. It’s frustrating.”
With the loss in Game 1, the Jays have still not won two straight games in 2017 and, as Gibbons likes to point out, it’s hard to climb out of a hole if you can’t do that.
The Cards were trailing 4-0 into the late innings of Game 1, but they responded with a run off Joe Biagini in the bottom of the seventh on a single by Grichuk. They cut the Jays’ lead to two runs in the bottom of the eighth against Joe Smith. Pillar raced into right-centre and dove for a Fowler fly, with the ball settling in his glove but popping out and nestling in the grass. Carpenter delivered a one-out single scoring Fowler. Then Osuna blew his third save in the ninth.
Gibbons needs to search for hope amidst the rubble of Thursday. The Jays should have Sanchez, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and third baseman Josh Donaldson all back in the next week. Then perhaps they need to change Osuna’s role for the immediate future until he gets his swagger back. When you are 10 games below .500 and you’re still in April, patience may not be a virtue.