GAME CENTRE
RED SOX 8, BLUE JAYS 2
Richard at least has some nice stuff in belated Jays debut
Four innings. Fifty-four pitches. One earned run. One hit batter. One balk. One E1.
And a brace of knees that didn’t feel crippling.
The Blue Jays will take that effort — around the 50-pitch range limit imposed — from Clayton Richard, who made his Toronto debut Thursday, merely about, oh, two months late, and with just one rehab start beneath his belt.
Open up another can of used pitchers. The lefty joined the starting rotation, albeit a rotating door as well, as the Jays continue to lurch from who’s pitching to who’s pitching.
Richard, who last started a major-league game last August, had some problems with his control and bollixed a pickoff but that’s not why the home side lost 8-2 to Boston at Rogers Centre, allowing the Red Sox to leave town after taking three of four games.
The Jays managed just five hits Thursday, and they had some scratchy turns out of the bullpen in a loss that dropped them 10 games under .500 for the first time this season.
“Physically I felt great,” said Richard, who had been on the injury shelf since before the season started with a stress reaction in his right knee. “I didn’t command the ball the way I would like to. But to come away, being in the ball game after four innings, is the end goal. And I was able to do that.”
Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, flailing about for reliable starters — Richard was the Jays’ 11th — took comfort where he found it, in Richard. “His four innings were good and he threw strikes, his ball had movement on it,” Montoyo said. “So that’s a good sign for us.”
Dribblers: The Jays nearly wasted a double-single-double bracket to lead off the third inning and still managed to squeeze only one run out of the no-out situation … Rowdy Tellez took an 0-2 Ryan Weber inside fastball on the backside in the bottom of a fourth inning in which Richard had plunked Andrew Benintendi, drawing completely unnecessary warnings to both teams by Saskatchewan-born umpire Stu Scheurwater … Justin Smoak led off the ninth with his eighth home run of year.
Lefty getting right: Leaning heavily on one crutch, Matt Shoemaker made the clubhouse rounds before the game, assuring one and all that he’ll be back. Unsaid: Maybe not as a Blue Jay.
The left-hander, Toronto’s strongest starter when the season was but a puppy (3-0 with a 1.57 ERA through five games), is out for the season after tearing his ACL during a rundown April 20 against Oakland.
The 32-year-old spoke hopefully about possibly being goodto-go by, ha-ha, the World Series. “But could be November. We’re being as aggressive as we can, safely.” His early stage rehab has been limited to range of motion stuff and keeping the arm fresh.
As for an optimistic November timeline, Shoemaker should be a free agent by then, unless he’s re-upped by Toronto. And, hey, the Jays have a thing for recently injured moundsmen pitching on fumes and desperation.
Spin the wheel again: The Jays announced they had claimed left-hander Zac Rosscup off waivers from Seattle.
The 30-year-old reliever made 19 appearances for the Mariners this season with a 3.21 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 14 walks. Rosscup gives the Jays a third left arm in the bullpen.
To make room on the roster, right-hander Jimmy (We hardly knew ya) Cordero was designated for assignment.
Vlad-a-voomph: Vladimir Guerrero almost took thirdbase coach Luis Rivera’s head off with a foul line drive in the sixth inning that hooked, screaming, into the Toronto dugout. Rivera rocked back on his heels and bailed for cover. He scowled at Vlad, who couldn’t keep the smirk off his own face, even as he subsequently ground out.