Jays use long ball to down Red Sox
TORONTO — On first blush, the moves represented mere tinkering with a roster that only good health will make whole. But there were three jobs gained and three lost in one day, and they sent a message that other jobs may be less secure.
Which left some Toronto Blue Jays observers to wonder: whither Juan Francisco?
The surprise home-run hero of the early season has become an albatross on offence. A pull hitter who favours fastballs, Francisco has batted .179 since June 3 with 49 strikeouts in 95 atbats. Only the foolhardy feed him anything but off-speed pitches.
“We need him to produce with the bat, that’s for sure,” manager John Gibbons said before the Blue Jays’ 7-3 win over the Red Sox.
“He’s due to get hot,” Gibbons added, hopefully.
Francisco’s woes continued against Boston — two strikeouts and a pop-up, plus a rare walk — and his mates could generate only a 1-0 lead through five innings. But the team that has long lived by the home run got a pair of them in the sixth inning, a solo shot by Jose Reyes and a two-run blast by Dioner Navarro. Both came off Boston starter Jake Peavy and allowed the Jays and their nervous fans to exhale after watching J.A. Happ cling tenaciously to the narrowest of leads.
In the seventh, Anthony Gose’s bunt single started a small-ball sequence that culminated in Melky Cabrera’s second RBI infield hit of the game. Gose had scored from second on his first one, which caromed off pitcher Jake Peavy in the third.
Happ (8-5, 4.55 ERA) allowed seven hits and no runs in six innings. Dustin McGowan gave up a David Ortiz homer in the seventh and Casey Janssen surrendered a two-run shot to Stephen Drew in the ninth.
Signed as minor-league insurance in March, Francisco was called up from Buffalo in mid-April and immediately began harvesting fastballs. He hit 10 of his 14 homers before June 1.
But by then, word had spread and Francisco started to see a steady stream of breaking pitches. On June 1, his OPS was .963. In 38 games before Tuesday night, it was .631.
Against Boston, Gibbons switched him from third base to first base. He did fine on defence, but continued to lag on offence.
Gibbons said all three of his injured regulars — first baseman Edwin Encarnacion, third baseman/second baseman Brett Lawrie and DH Adam Lind — are recovering apace and could be back within the next couple of weeks. That bodes well for the Jays, but perhaps not for Francisco, unless he begins to make himself useful at the plate.
Ryan Goins, who was summoned from Buffalo along with top pitching prospect Aaron Sanchez and retread reliever Esmil Rogers, got the start at second base and went 1-for-4. Asked whether Goins would be his regular at second, Gibbons replied, “He’ll play a lot out there.”
If that proves out, three of the four infield positions will soon be renewed. Francisco has played two of them. The math is not in his favour.