A stumble in the Bronx
The Blue Jays get swept in New York as their offence dries up in the series finale
NEW YORK— If If the Blue Jays fail to defend their AL East title this season, they may look back at this nine-game road trip as when the division slipped from their grasp.
The Jays’ offensive woes continued Wednesday night as they lost 2-0 to the New York Yankees, who completed a three-game sweep.
The Jays now return to Toronto having lost six of nine games on this three-city sojourn, their slim lead atop the division evaporated. With Boston playing a late game against the San Diego, the Jays were in danger of falling into second place for the first time in almost a month.
The trouble on Wednesday was once again a lack of offence as the Jays were shut out for the sixth time this season. They collected just five hits on the night and went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
“We just couldn’t mount any offence,” manager John Gibbons said afterward.
On the road trip as a whole they averaged fewer than four runs per game, more than a run behind their season-long average. Several key hitters are underperforming. Josh Donaldson, in particular, is mired in his worst slump of the season. He went 0-for-3 on Wednesday to extend his hitless streak to four games and de- clined to take questions from reporters after the game.
But the team as a whole is in the midst of one of their worst power droughts of the season. They have just two homers in their last six games after averaging 1.5 homers per game through the season’s first five months. Their struggles to score without the long ball reflects what has at times been a one-dimensional offence this season.
In more bad news, catcher Russell Martin “tweaked” his knee in Wednesday’s game, Gibbons said. He tried to play through it and was still effective on defence, throwing out a would-be base stealer in the eighth.
“Hopefully it’s no big deal,” Gibbons said. “See how he feels on Friday.”
The Jays will be happy to get back to the Rogers Centre after this dismal stretch away from home.
At the start of the road trip the Jays were projected to have a 60-per-cent chance of winning the division, according to Fangraphs’ projection models, which is based on thousands of simulations of the remaining games. Now their projected chances are less than 40 per cent.
Marcus Stroman lasted just five innings, tying his second-shortest outing of his season. He allowed just a pair of runs on seven hits, including a homer to Starlin Castro in the third inning that proved to be the winning run.
A year ago at this very stadium, Stroman made his first start of the season following his remarkable comeback from what was supposed to be season-ending knee surgery. That Jays team was in the midst of a late-summer surge up the standings. This time, Stroman was trying to halt a slide.
But he said the team feels no panic, despite their current stretch.
“It’s baseball, we’re fine,” he said. “It’s an extremely confident group of guys we have. We’re just going through a bit of a rough patch. Our mentality hasn’t changed for a second in this clubhouse.
“I’m sure we’ll get right back to it Friday.”
Stroman’s counterpart, Bryan Mitchell, was making his first bigleague appearance of the season and he held the Jays to just four hits in his five innings. He gave way to Luis Severino, who threw three scoreless innings of relief, snuffing out a brief Jays rally in the sixth.
After Thursday’s off-day the Jays return home for what will be the biggest series of the season, hosting the Red Sox in a three-game series that will be a battle for first place.
“We’re ready,” Stroman said. “We know what we have to accomplish. We know what we have to do over this next month and we’re up for the task. Every single guy in this clubhouse is committed and motivated.”