No gold in gloves as Jays throw game away
BLUE JAYS Bichette’s error on a double-play ball leads to Tampa Bay grand slam
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. If the Blue Jays want the identity of this year’s team to be centred around pitching and defence, they did a poor job of showing it Friday night.
Bo Bichette committed a pair of costly errors while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made an errant throw to spoil what otherwise had been a strong outing by veteran starter Chris Bassitt. Three makable plays that led to five runs and saddled the Jays with their first loss of the season.
Bichette’s miscue in the third inning preceded a grand slam by Brandon Lowe while two more mistakes in the fifth only made the Jays’ issues worse. Bassitt was unable to bail his teammates out of either jam as his team was saddled with an 8-2 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.
“Any team in this league, you have to catch the ball,” Jays manager
John Schneider said. “These guys do damage and right after that (error), grand slam. Errors are part of it, so you just flush it and get back after it tomorrow. Defence, as we all know, is very important, but Chris battled.”
The Jays were one of the better defensive teams in the majors last season. They earned the American League gold glove team award while José Berríos, Kevin Kiermaier and Matt Chapman won individual honours. Their 107 errorfree games were the most in franchise history.
The Jays also led the majors with 82 defensive runs saved. Chapman has since departed, but he was replaced by the equally competent Isiah Kiner-Falefa while the other positions went untouched. That means the Jays are again expected to be one of the best fielding clubs.
Despite defence being a strength, there are noticeable flaws.
The bulk of the Jays’ defensive value can be found in the outfield, where they ranked second in the majors last season with 21 outs above average. Around the infield,
the Jays performed much worse with -11 outs, 21st in the majors.
Bichette was one of the biggest culprits. Long gone are the days when people question the franchise superstar’s ability to handle his position. He has improved with the glove every season he has been in the league, but the 26-year-old is still considered a bat-first shortstop and that means every now and then his glove is going to be a problem. That was the case Friday.
The Rays had runners on first and second in the third inning when Yandy Diaz hit a slow chopper to short. Bichette took a couple of steps in and the Jays appeared to have the beginnings of a routine double play.
Unfortunately for Toronto, Bichette bobbled the ball and his toss to second was late, as was Cavan Biggio’s relay throw to first.
Instead of a runner on third with two outs, the Rays had the bases loaded with nobody out. Lowe then made the Jays pay for it by unloading on a poorly located cut fastball from Bassitt and sending it into the right-centre field seats for the third grand slam of his career. A one-run lead became a three-run deficit.
There were more defensive issues in the fifth. Diaz hit another chopper to short, this time harder than the first. Instead of charging the ball, Bichette stepped back onto the outfield turf. His throw to first came up well short and skipped away from Guerrero. Diaz went to second and advanced to third when Guerrero made an errant throw of his own during the following at-bat.
The Rays made the Jays pay for those mistakes too as Randy Arozarena delivered an RBI single to put his team in front by four. Bassitt was removed at the end of the fifth having allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits and a pair of walks while striking out six. It was the second consecutive season debut in which Bassitt surrendered at least four earned runs.
“I felt really good tonight,” Bassitt said. “I felt like I threw my pitches basically where I wanted them. It was just one pitch. Obviously, (Lowe is) an unbelievable hitter, he had 20-plus homers last year. I just can’t make that mistake. That was literally the game, it was just one pitch.”
The messy play made Bassitt’s pitching line look worse than it should have and it also overshadowed another productive day by the top of the Jays’ lineup. Despite an overall lack of offence, George Springer homered for the second consecutive day while Guerrero reached base three times. That success wasn’t shared by Bichette, who finished 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Considering the Jays play in the always competitive AL East, with a roster that doesn’t appear to have as much upside as previous seasons, they can’t afford to give away too many games. They’ll have to hope sloppy losses like the one that took place Friday will become exceptions, not the new standard.
Pitching and defence still figure to be a strength this season. But for at least one night against the Rays, they were the weakness.