Buehrle’s streak crumbles in Philly
Veteran lefty hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since end of May
PHILADELPHIA— John Gibbons, a football fan and proud Texan, made a joke earlier this week as he cautioned against the notion that this mini series against the last-place Phillies amounted to guaranteed wins for his Blue Jays. “It’s not like we’re the Cowboys coming in here to thump the Eagles.”
Gibbons’ point was a bit muddled — Dallas and Philadelphia split their only two meetings last season — but it’s true that any major-league team can beat any other on any given day.
That said, this late in the season, against a rebuilding Phillies’ club largely depleted by trades — the latest coming just prior to Wednesday’s game as Philadelphia’s veteran second baseman Chase Utley was dealt to the L.A. Dodgers — these were games the Jays really should have been able to add to the win column.
Instead, after falling 7-4 on Wednesday night, they exit the city of brotherly love with a disappointing split.
Maybe it was all the stormtroopers standing among the Blue Jays players and coaches during the anthems and pre-game festivities on Star Wars night at Citizens Bank Park, but from the beginning it felt like an odd and unsettling game for the Jays.
Veteran lefty Mark Buehrle, who hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start since May 29th, had that many scored against him in the first inning. Buehrle’s teammates also got off to a sluggish start as a pair of first-inning errors allowed Phillies runners to take extra bases.
Ironically, Buehrle said he wished he could pitch like he did on Wednesday every night, chalking up the outcome to bad luck. “Location-wise and stuff-wise, I felt like I had better today than I had my last four outings,” he said. “It’s what makes this game crazy.”
Buehrle gave up a solo homer to Jeff Francoeur in the third to snap his streak of 13 consecutive starts of three or fewer earned runs. Wednesday was also the shortest outing of Buehrle’s season. Playing in a National League park, Gibbons lifted his starter for a pinch-hitter in the fifth when the Jays, trailing 4-2 at the time, brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Chris Colabello was called out on strikes to end what was the Jays’ only rally against Phillies rookie left-hander Adam Morgan.
“It’s no fun” playing under NL rules, Buehrle said. He later added: “Either way, I’m out after four innings. National League, American League, pitching good, pitching bad, I went four innings and that’s the frustrating part.”
In other bad news for the Jays, catcher Russell Martin continues to be hampered by an injury to his left leg. Mired in a deep slump — he’s just 5-for-45 this month with no extrabase hits — Martin admitted after the game that he has been dealing with a “nagging injury for a while now,” even stretching back to last season. Martin wouldn’t specify the exact ailment on Wednesday, but he did spend a month on the disabled list last year with a left hamstring strain and was “day-to-day” with the same injury last September. He emphasized it’s not an excuse for his scuffling at the plate.
“I don’t think it’s an issue,” he said. “I’m not concerned with it. I expect to go out there and play at a high level.”
He said the injury doesn’t affect his catching — “I can still receive and throw the bases” — and only really hurts him when he runs the bases. He paused at first when asked if it hindered his swing at all, but reiterated it was not the cause of his current slump. “I’ve had some hot spells (this season), I’ve had some cold spells.”
The lone bright side for the visitors on Wednesday night was that Edwin Encarnacion continued to swing a hot bat. The Jays’ 32-year-old first baseman extended his hit streak to a career-high 16 games — the longest active streak in the majors — with his 23rd homer of the season and fifth in the last six games.