BASEBALL:
Jays offence falls flat yet again
In spring training, John Farrell sounded like a broken record: If his starting pitchers could work deep into games, his Toronto Blue Jays had a chance to do great things in 2012.
Through 18 games, the starters have held up their end of the bargain, averaging a little more than six innings each time out. But those great things remain elusive, largely because the offence continues to gurgle and sputter.
The trend continued in a 3-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. Kyle Drabek allowed five hits and two runs — on solo homers — in six innings, but the Blue Jays could do nothing with their meagre collection of six singles.
Drabek took the blame for those home-run pitches to Wilson Betemit and Chris Davis and said he is confident the offence will soon snap out of it.
“We’ve got a great hitting club,” he said. “Today we just happened not to score any. I’m not worried about them at all.”
Baltimore has won four of five games against Toronto, hitting 10 homers in the process. The final game of the current series is scheduled for tonight, with rookie Drew Hutchison starting for the Jays.
Before the game, Farrell acknowledged his offence “ebbs and flows,” and some of his hitters have tried to win tight games with a single swing instead of remaining committed to their game plan at the plate. He found some solace in the fact the Jays started the day ranked fourth in the American League in runs and walks. They were 11th in batting average at .243 but first — at .341 — with runners in scoring position.
The trick, of course, is to get runners in scoring position, which they did in only two innings Wednesday. Colby Rasmus struck out with the bases loaded in the fourth and they stranded two in the ninth.
The Jays fell victim to hot pitcher Jason Hammel (3-0, 1.73 ERA), who beat them for the second time in 11 days. In seven innings, Hammel allowed four hits and struck out seven.
“Hammel just had it,” said Jays second baseman Kelly Johnson. “He was obviously very confident and feeling good. . . . It was his night.”
After winning four straight in Kansas City, the Jays have dropped two in a row in Baltimore. Johnson found a silver lining in his team’s starting pitching, which allowed two runs in each loss.
“Kyle threw the ball great,” Johnson said. “(Tuesday) night, our pitching was phenomenal. That’s going to have to be consistent for us the whole year for us to compete. Even when we’re not scoring runs, it’s been there.”
Farrell said it is early and the offence, considered a strong point before the season, is simply “in a little bit of a dry patch. We haven’t even clicked for any stretch of games yet.”
They certainly have not clicked over two nights in Baltimore. The composite score reads Orioles 5, Jays 1.