Boston batters Boyd, first eight Sox score
Rookie can’t get anyone out, charged with seven runs in worst start in team history
Before Thursday’s series finale against the Boston Red Sox, Jose Reyes was asked if there is an expectation inside the Blue Jays’ clubhouse that the front office will address the team’s areas of need before the July 31st trade deadline. The 32-year-old shortstop shrugged. “I mean, everybody knows what we need,” he said.
Those needs were made plainly evident once again Thursday night as the Jays’ 24-year-old rookie starting pitcher, Matt Boyd, was driven from the game in the first inning after allowing seven runs before he could record a single out. It was the worst start in franchise history and it further underlined the club’s need to add a veteran pitcher if they hope to contend for a division title this year.
But despite trailing by eight runs before they even had a chance to bat, the Jays still made a game of it thanks to their unrelenting, league-leading offence, which stirred a lively Rogers Centre crowd with a four-run rally in the second inning. They continued to threaten as the game wore on, but Boston ultimately prevailed 12-6 to win the four-game series.
The persistence of the Toronto offence and the work of the bullpen on Thursday night were commendable, but the reality is Boyd shouldn’t be in the big leagues — not yet, anyway — and his rushed promotion cost the Jays. The Washington state native made just two starts in Triple-A before he was called up last week to fill Aaron Sanchez’s vacated spot in the rotation, and now he will enter the dubious pages of baseball’s record books by allowing the third-most runs ever by a starter without making an out.
He didn’t miss a single bat in his abbreviated outing and it seems clear in hindsight that he wasn’t ready for this assignment. A week ago Boyd was considered a potential trade chip for the Jays — and maybe he still will be — but his stock is diminished now. He will likely be shipped back to the minors Friday in exchange for a fresh arm to restock the Jays’ bullpen after all seven relievers were required to carry the load on the eve of a10-game road trip.
It was already clear long before Thursday’s loss that the Jays need to add pitching — preferably both a starter and reliever — in order to take advantage of what looks like a championship-calibre offence. But games like these tend to emphasize the point.
Before the game Reyes said what has made the last two seasons so disappointing is the fact that the Jays had a team that “should” make the playoffs. “I know it’s not easy, but if you see the talent in this locker room, I mean, this is a playoff ball club,” he said.
Reyes left the obvious unsaid and wisely would not call out his general manager — “I don’t know if we need some other pieces or not; that’s not my job” — but the unspoken implication is that if Alex Anthopoulos does not improve the pitching staff for the second half of the season, he risks wasting the best offence in baseball.
So the Jays conclude the first half of the season three games above .500, tied for a wild-card spot and a game back of the division lead. Manager John Gibbons — who was ejected Thursday in the fifth inning after arguing a questionable out-call at the plate, upheld following a replay review — said before the game that he has liked what he has seen from his charges as a whole, but the rest of the month will be telling.
On Friday they begin a 10-game road trip before the all-star break, the likes of which often prove troublesome for the club.
“It’s a big stretch for us,” Gibbons said. “This month will probably tell the tale a little bit, I would think.”