Jays falter in another .500 bid
Toronto digs a hole early while falling to 0-8 in break-even attempts
ARLINGTON, TEXAS— Oh for Corpus Christi sake.
Yes, nowhere near here but still in the Lone Star State and as close to a colloquial cuss as we can get in the sports pages of a family newspaper. (Not my family, mind.)
Really, Toronto has got to get itself over the hump of the .500 heebiejeebies.
Eight times now they’ve bumped their collective noggin against that apparently iron-rebar, steel-buttressed, mortar-vaulted ceiling, recoiling once again from a dead-draw win/loss percentage on the season.
The Jays made it O-for-octet on Tuesday night at Globe Life Park, swooning 6-1 in the enervating heat to the rival and reviled Rangers, led by their starter, Nick Martinez.
Aside: The booing of Jose Bautista is getting real tiresome. Rather like Bautista’s 0-fer at the plate Tuesday night, truth to say.
Another shaky start from a rotation fixture — Francisco Liriano bit the L-biscuit this time. And for the 20th time, a Toronto starter failed to go five innings.
There’s only so much a gassed bullpen can do as a pick-up tonic relief cadre, especially with an offence yet again in stasis, just have a dozen hits collected. Texas, with a troika of home runs, had no such issues on an evening when balls seemed to be jetpropelled through the barometric atmosphere.
“In baseball, unless you’re playing. 500 ball, you’re probably not going anywhere,” manager John Gibbons had observed earlier.
Tongue-in-cheek with a reporter: “Why do you keep asking? Well, I’m not going to answer. I’m not talking about it. Not talking about guys’ rehab programs or the .500 mark.”
Not so tongue-cheeky later. AHA, IT’S GOING TO BE THAT LIRIANO: Didn’t take long to figure who was occupying the mound on this hot-as-Hades night — Dr. (3-2) Jekyll or Mr. (5.36 ERA) Hyde.
Liriano slipped into the pitching macabre, spotting Texas a quick 4-0 lead in the opening frame, the top of the lineup feasting off the Toronto starter’s 26-pitch appetizer.
Coming off a fine outing against the Rays last time on the bump, Liriano must have been channeling his, well, shaky inner Liriano, smacked around by a lil old bunt out of bagstepping fielding range, Delino DeShields taking his base, then taking second base on a steal, then taking third base on a wild pitch, then plated on ground-out RBI by Adrian Beltre, who seems to set another ribbie record every time he gets wood on cowhide.
The hits kept coming: Jack variety, on a 1-1 pitch, by Carlos Gomez; Rougned Odor single, Jonathan Lucroy double on a shot all the way to the wall, misplayed by Kevin Pillar; a Mike Napoli single.
Upshot: Four runs scored and a steep escarpment to scale.
DEJA MAZARA: Nomar Mazara jolted Marco Estrada with a monster home run in the first on Monday. On Tuesday, he waited until leading off the fifth — dumping on a first pitch 92-m.p.h. four-seamer, arcing it in a pretty parabola over the Texas pen.
CAMPOS HEAP: The runners at first and second, bottom of the fifth, two out, and manager John Gibbons yanked Liriano. That was the 20th time this season a Toronto started has failed to go five complete innings. Leonel Campos was summoned from the ’pen to face. The Venezuelan was called up from the minors for the fourth time this season, when Joe Smith went on the DL.
The 29-year-old struck out Carlos Gomez but, with two out into the sixth, he pulled up lame jogging over to cover first. Another Jays moundsman bites the dust — right groin strain.
Jeff Beliveau was a warm (sweating-drenched) body waved onto the bump by Johnny G.
BALLS OUT: With one out, Toronto strung together three straight walks in the seventh off reliever Jose Leclerc, loading the bases. Steve Pearce fouled off nine pitches before getting punched out looking. Ryan Goins singled home Morales, finally putting Jays on the board. Dreadful swing and a miss from Pillar stomped out those embers.