BLUE JAYS OVERRUN IN BRONX ZOO
McKinney’s basepath adventures didn’t help in 11-6 loss to Yankees
Blue Jays baserunner Billy McKinney — picked off at first base in the third inning — was tagged out by Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar in the sixth after trying to take an extra base in the Big Apple. No one said the Jays’ rebuild would be smooth sailing, Richard Griffin writes on
Be careful what you wish for, Blue Jays fans.
All of a sudden, with 40 games left in what has become a lost season, the Jays’ starting lineup for game two of their weekend series at Yankee Stadium featured recently acquired Billy McKinney leading off, rookie Danny Jansen behind the plate and Richard Urena at shortstop, batting ninth.
That rebuilding group was asked to face Cy Young candidate Luis Severino in what seemed like a mismatch — and it turned out to be just that. The Jays had a brief glimmer of hope, taking advantage of shaky middle relief, but the Yankees stretched it out to win 11-6 in the Bronx.
Lefty J.A. Happ is scheduled to start Sunday with New York looking to sweep, facing Jays rookie lefty Ryan Borucki, his one-time protege.
As for the Jays starting rotation the rest of the way, reports indicate Marcus Stroman was affected by a middle finger blister in Friday night’s rainshortened 7-5 defeat and will likely miss at least his next start on the disabled list. The blister that has bothered him for the past several starts reduced his normally tall reper- toire to two pitches. He managed just four innings and departed after surrendering a four-run lead.
The Stroman injury means the next man up for the starting five is likely lefty Thomas Pannone, joining trade candidate Marco Estrada plus rookies Borucki, Sam Gaviglio and Saturday’s losing starter, righthander Sean Reid-Foley. There is still a chance Aaron Sanchez and Stroman will be back in September.
Many fans have been urging the Jays to begin the inevitable rebuild, but are now chirping on social media about staying competitive. The curious will still watch on television and listen on radio. Faux critics who had been asking for this and now complain will stay home and turn their attention to the NFL and Maple Leafs.
The jury is out on 22-year-old Reid-Foley, but the verdict on whether he will be able to take a spot in the rotation in 2019 needs to wait. His cause, over two starts, has not been helped by his teammates. Reid-Foley’s first start in Kansas City was shaded by the fact that, in the words of Warren Zevon, he’s just an excitable boy. Before his debut, he admitted to not being able to feel his body when the game started, encountering early focus issues.
More was expected in his second start even though it was at Yankee Stadium, with all of its amazing history and a pregame ceremony honouring the 1998 Yankees who won 124 games, including the postseason. Unfortunately, ReidFoley was not helped at all by his defence.
In the second inning, Jansen blocked a pitch in the dirt and then threw wildly into centre field, allowing Gleyber Torres to reach third and setting up a sacrifice fly.
In the third, Teoscar Hernandez, playing right field because it’s less ground to cover, broke back on a leadoff fly ball by Giancarlo Stanton that landed in front of him.
After allowing a couple of runs with one out in that inning, Jays manager John Gibbons went to the mound for a terse 30-second visit — to both settle Reid-Foley down and read him the riot act. Unfortunately, before Gibbons even sat down after the visit, Devon Travis had thrown one away at first base after fielding a grounder, prolonging the inning and leading to another run. Jangly nerves and shaky defence? Not a good combo.
It’s not just the pitching and defence that have been letting Gibbons and the Jays down. They have been running the bases like they have never been in certain situations, and mistakes have taken them out of innings.
On Saturday against the tough right-hander Severino, who is very stingy when it comes to allowing baserunners, McKinney reached first base with one out in the third and the Jays trailing by three. McKinney was caught leaning toward second and picked off by Severino. Then in the sixth, as they mounted a comeback, McKinney cleared the bases on a single (and an error), but was thrown out trying to make it to third base — ending the inning even though his run was not important, trailing by three once again.
There’s more. On Friday, veteran Curtis Granderson barely beat a tag play at the plate on a hard ground ball down the first-base line. With right fielder Neil Walker throwing through to the plate and the cutoff man not in position, Travis did not take advantage and move up to second base as fundamentals tell him he should have.
Still more. In Kansas City earlier in the road trip, Granderson was not able to score from second base on a double by Justin Smoak because he had gone back to second base to tag up.
With one out, it was the wrong play. He needed to be able to score from second if the ball landed safely. It hasn’t just been the rookies.
The Jays have been thrown out twice in the last couple of weeks on attempted hit-andruns when hitters have swung and missed. When you’re having trouble scoring runs, you try to force the issue at times and problems can snowball, as they have in subtle and not-sosubtle ways with this team.
Being a major leaguer isn’t just about being in the major leagues. Gibbons made the right move with Reid-Foley. Once the Yankees had already taken a stranglehold 6-0 lead, Gibbons allowed his young pitcher to go back out to the mound for the fourth and then to start the fifth, allowing solo homers to Stanton and Miguel Andujar. Reid-Foley was able to throw 96 pitches thanks to hard love.
The Jays are 4-11 against the Yankees this season, and 4-12 against the Red Sox. In fact, facing AL teams in playoff position, the Jays are 11-32. Against AL also-rans, Toronto is 44-36. The good news for Jays fans is that 25 of the past 39 games are against teams not in post-season position.