Streak ends — but all’s not lost
Ugly defeat shouldn’t linger with Tulowitzki, Donaldson almost ready to roll again
The Blue Jays’ goal on Monday was simple: Once the bleeding started in a 10-6 loss to the Braves, get out with the fewest pitchers used up and move on to tomorrow.
They attempted to cajole and manoeuvre sixth starter Mike Bolsinger through five innings, but were unable to accomplish even that. Bolsinger allowed eight hits, two walks and hit three Braves hitters in 42⁄ innings as the Jays’ mod
3 est win streak was stopped at five. They are 1-5 in interleague play.
Bolsinger, the 29-year-old right-hander, did not do himself any favours in terms of remaining in the majors whenever it is that Francisco Liriano is eligible to return — after May 22.
With Aaron Sanchez looking blisterfree and good enough to go back out for his next scheduled start, and with Joe Biagini taking to the role of starter, when Liriano returns there will be no room — if not before.
The Jays have still won five of six and eight of their last 11, and the fact is that if the hot streak was going to come to an end, it may as well have been in a rout against what had been the second-worst team in the majors heading into the night.
Earlier in the day, the Jays placed outfielder Steve Pearce on the 10-day disa- bled list with a right-calf strain and called up Leonel Campos, promptly tossed as a human sacrifice into the Braves volcano, on top of Bolsinger.
Campos will likely be replaced by a position player Tuesday, since the Jays played with just a two-man bench.
Monday was also the 28th anniversary of Cito Gaston taking over as manager of the 12-24 Jays from Jimy Williams, with that 1989 team suddenly turning it around and advancing to the post-season. Inspirational? This year’s Jays were 10-20 on May 6, very close to the ’89 record that cost Williams his job, but there is no longer any comparison or any need to worry about John Gibbons’ status.
But when this year’s club was limping along, seemingly lost at the plate and in the bullpen, it seemed a legitimate question to ask: if history might, in fact, re- peat itself with Gibbons losing his job a month into his new, two-year contract extension. Things seemed dismal. Closer Roberto Osuna wasn’t closing. Setup man Jason Grilli wasn’t setting up. Slugger Jose Bautista wasn’t slugging.
Many other players in the lineup were hitting under .200. In addition, there were injuries to key players and to the starting pitching.
But Gibbons stayed the course, despite the wall of noise from social media insisting that changes needed to be made.
“I think you have to (keep going) because it is a long season,” Gibbons said. “We did dig a hole, that’s for sure. Every team out there, you’ve got your core guys. If they’re good, you’re in good shape. If they struggle, you’re probably not in real good shape. So you’ve got to stick with those guys. Every now and then there comes a time you make some adjustments, but you have to give it some time.”
All of a sudden the Jays’ darkness has become a new dawn — at least until a new darkness arrives, which it inevitably will somewhere down the line.
The good news? Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is expected back Wednesday in Atlanta after a couple of rehab games at Class-A Dunedin, and third baseman Josh Donaldson could return, with or without a rehab stint, perhaps as early as this weekend in Baltimore.
The hitting has rebounded, but the biggest change from the first month has been the bullpen. When your bullpen is struggling, especially in the first month of the season, there is no hiding. It’s the eighth and ninth innings and there’s no coming back. Fail in those situations and the game is over. You have to make adjustments.
“It’s a 162-game schedule, and you know you have a long year ahead of you,” pitching coach Pete Walker said. “Sometimes you do get off to slow starts, rocky starts as a staff — individually or as a group. The guys that have been playing this game long enough understand that happens sometimes, and that the challenge is to control your mind and understand that you have a lot of season left, and to just get back to making one pitch at a time and keep it as simple as possible.”
Walker spoke specifically of Osuna and the crisis of confidence — not so much by him, but in him — as he struggled to close while professing to be healthy.
“Even for the younger guys that go through difficult times there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and they know they’re going to get through it,” Walker said. “Even for a guy like Osuna, who’s relatively inexperienced, he’s still been pitching long enough to understand that. It really hasn’t been an issue with the staff. There’s still some guys struggling, and we still feel very strongly that they’ll come out of it.”
Even though earlier in the season the obvious culprit was the bullpen, in that alarming April, Gibbons insists the blame should be shared.
“When they were struggling, a big hit here or there . . . it seemed like there were all those one-run, tight games where you couldn’t afford a mistake,” Gibbons said. “We were getting that mistake, but you get a little breathing room, now it can make all the difference in the world. That (stretch is) behind us.”
The Blue Jays dug themselves a hole as a team and now are coming out of it as a team. They are hoping that Monday’s dismal showing was a blip on the radar. But it’s a marathon, and none of the previous resurgence is a guarantee of success to come. Things can turn sour in a hurry, but reinforcements are on the way.