Jays lose Reyes, and another game to Rays
When he returned to the dugout after his first at-bat against Tampa Bay on Thursday night, Jose Reyes almost tore his batting helmet off his head, then tried to rip it in half.
He was fuming — in one of those “This can’t be happening again” moments.
But it did, another early-season injury, this one soreness in his left rib cage area, that further tainted a 4-2 loss to the Rays and right-hander Chris Archer, who was all but unhittable at the Rogers Centre.
Reyes couldn’t be blamed for his outward show of frustration and anger. He is into his third season with the Jays and the popular shortstop has been sidelined in April in each of those three seasons. Thursday’s setback actually stemmed back to Saturday in Baltimore, where the shortstop tweaked the muscles in his rib cage area. He will sit out the next two games, and the Jays will likely go with rookie Devon Travis at leadoff while Reyes recovers.
“I didn’t take batting practice the last two days, it was very uncomfortable for me,” said Reyes, who was batting .333 entering Thursday’s game.
“It’s mostly swinging. I can do anything on the field, but swinging . . . it feels like I’m swinging with one hand and that’s not me.”
Reyes played in his 10th game Thursday. He suffered a hamstring injury on Opening Day a year ago; two years ago, he injured an ankle 10 games into the season and was gone two and a half months.
The Jays probably didn’t realize it at the time, but their call-up of infielder Ryan Goins from Triple-A Buffalo earlier in the day proved timely; Goins, a natural shortstop, went right in as a replacement.
For Toronto, though, there is the spectre of Reyes’s injury history, and the risk of playing him because he is a pivotal player.
Reyes was to sit Saturday as part of a planned rest; now, he will miss at least Friday and Saturday. He also has an oblique history, from his time in Florida. If this injury turns out to be similar, it could lead to a difficult rehab.
The Jays tried to motor on without their starting shortstop, but ran into Archer, one of the hottest pitchers in the game at the moment, who dominated, striking out 11 over seven innings while allowing just two hits.
Really, about the only hard-hit ball the Jays mustered was a loud fly ball to the warning track in right centre from Travis in the fifth inning.
Aaron Sanchez, making his second start of the season, continued to battle his command. He left the game with one on in the sixth inning, having allowed two runs. He scattered five hits through 90 pitches, but only 52 were strikes. And he was charged with another run when Aaron Loup gave up a two-run pinch-hit homer to Tim Beckham.