GAME CENTRE RAYS 5, BLUE JAYS 0
Offence ice cold as Jays’ slide reaches five games
This has been a week for the Blue Jays’ hitters to forget.
Just four games after they were no-hit by Houston’s Justin Verlander, the Jays managed two hits off five pitchers in a 5-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Toronto hitters were retired in order in seven straight innings and struck out 13 times.
The loss was more proof that this youth-oriented roster has yet to recover from the no-no experience with Verlander. And that’s a growing concern for a Blue Jays team trying to play its young prospects while avoiding 100 losses in the standings.
It seems 100 might be the price to pay for taking a long and hard look at all that youth.
Of course, other teams went through 100-loss seasons before winning 100. Houston hit the low mark in 2012 and 2013 and went on to win the World Series in 2017.
Still, in losing its fifth straight game Friday, Toronto’s offence — a Randal Grichuk triple in the first and an Anthony Alford single in the ninth — showed how difficult it is for a young team to deal with the pressure of winning.
Twenty-two straight Jays were retired before Toronto loaded the bases on a pair of walks sandwiched around Alford’s single.
But Teoscar Hernandez popped out, Randal Grichuk struck out, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. popped out to strand all three runners.
Toronto has gone 4-14 since Aug. 16.
There were a couple of bright spots as outfielders Alford and Jonathan Davis showed speed can help turn around a team’s defensive struggles. Alford, in particular, made a superb running catch in the second inning on a ball that looked like it would drop foul. He raced about 100 feet — at about 30 feet per second, according to Statscast — to make the catch.
Alford’s ninth-inning hit was his first in the majors this season. á Boots and bobbles: Still, the Jays defence had another difficult night, following up a loss to the Rays on Thursday in which errors and misplays led to two runs.
A passed ball by catcher Danny Jansen brought home a run, while a sluggish approach Teoscar Hernandez on a relatively easy drive to centre led to another. If that wasn’t enough, Brandon Drury bobbled a ball at second in the eighth inning that led to yet another run.
á Out of here: Jays manager Charlie Montoyo was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Bill Miller over the strike zone. Miller rung up Hernandez twice on questionable inside fastballs. Montoyo had enough, and it resulted in his second ejection off the season.
á A late pitch: Buchholz was tagged with the loss and gave up four runs over his six innings, but was sharp after giving up three runs in his first two innings. Buchholz, who averaged 88 m.p.h. on his fastball before he went on the injured list, has pushed that to 91-92 in three starts since his return. And hard-hit balls against him have dropped from 30 per cent before to 11 per cent after.
á Up next: Left-hander Anthony Kay makes his first Jays start Saturday, with right-hander Charlie Morton (14-6, 3.06) going for Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.