Morales injured, offence sputters
The Toronto Blue Jays offence stalled once again Tuesday, losing 6-0 to the Cleveland Indians .
As if it wasn’t bad enough that Toronto dropped to12-21on the season, designated hitter Kendrys Morales left the game in the seventh inning with hamstring tightness.
Morales felt the tug during the fourth inning, on his way to back to the dugout after grounding out to shortstop Francisco Lindor; he is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Wednesday.
“It’s frustrating for everybody. Of course I want to stay in the game, but it could get worse if I stayed out there so I’ve got to listen to the doctors and see what’s going to happen later,” he said through a translator, adding that he wasn’t yet concerned and had never suffered a hamstring injury before.
Across the way in Cleveland’s dugout, Morales’s counterpart Edwin Encarnacion went 0-for-3 with two walks, a run scored and another warm reception.
The cheers for Encarnacion continued during his second night back in Toronto. The longtime Jay was serenaded by fans with an “Eddie, Eddie” chant while at third base in the top of the sixth. He acknowledged the moment with a thumb- up and a smile.
And why shouldn’t fans cheer the dearly departed, on a night where the home team’s offence didn’t produce much to get loud about?
Shut out for the second time this season, Toronto managed just four singles. It’s the fifth game of the year the Jays had fewer than five hits.
Cleveland’s starter Carlos Carrasco, a pitcher who manager John Gibbons said “has always been tough” on Toronto, threw seven strikeouts in as many innings.
The visitors didn’t conjure much more through the first seven innings, a pair doubles from centre fielder Lonnie Chisenhall and a third from Lindor all it could muster. But Cleveland made that menial offensive production count where the Jays couldn’t, before a three-run homer from catcher Yan Gomes sealed the deal in the eighth inning.
It was another waste of a solid effort from the mound, this time from Mike Bolsinger, the ninth pitcher to start for the Jays’ this season.
Bolsinger,l fresh from Buffalo, allowed three hits over 5 2/3 innings, his spot of trouble coming in the second after walking both Encarnacion and third baseman Jose Ramirez. Chisenhall’s first double brought Encarnacion in before Ramirez scored on a fielders’ choice.
Gibbons was impressed with Bolsinger’s breaking ball and believes he will be “really, really tough” if he can better spot his fast ball in future.
“He should feel good about that. He gave us a chance,” he said, in the same breathe praising catcher Mike Ohlman, who made his Major League debut behind the plate.
If Bolsinger wanted to make a case for his spot in the big leagues with the Jays, doing it quickly was necessary.
Starter Aaron Sanchez, on the disabled list with a split nail, was back in the clubhouse late Tuesday night and could be back in the mix as early as Sunday’s game against the Seattle Mariners after throwing a 60-pitch side session without pain on Tuesday.