Frustration mounts on and off field
Bassitt takes loss despite pinpoint control, and the offence is somehow even worse than last year
For a while there, it looked as though there might be something special going on at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday. But when all was said and done, the Blue Jays started the month of May the same way they played most of April, by not doing nearly enough with the bats.
Starter Chris Bassitt had it going on through the first five innings. The lanky right-hander used a seven-pitch mix to keep the Kansas City Royals not only off-balance, but hitless.
The master of weak contact was at his best, allowing only one hard-hit ball: a 103.1-m.p.h. grounder by Vinnie Pasquantino in the fourth inning that was handled by Davis Schneider at second base.
Bassitt walked one batter and hit another (controversially, as a checked-swing appeal to first base on a 1-and-2 sinker up and in to Salvador Pérez was badly missed) and allowed just four balls out of the infield.
The problem — as it’s been all season, and was for most of last season as well — was that the other guy was getting the job done, too.
Royals starter Seth Lugo came in with a 1.66 ERA, fifth in the American League, and more than lived up to the billing.
The veteran right-hander gave up a first-inning single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., stranded him, then didn’t allow another hit until Danny Jansen’s two-out solo homer in the seventh inning. By then, the Jays were down by three.
Bassitt’s no-hit bid ended when he was betrayed by that weak contact mastery. Kyle Isbel led off the sixth inning with a soft line drive sliced down the left-field line for a double. Isbel was immediately bunted to third and things went sideways from there.
With runs at a premium, the Jays had to play their infield in, which gave Bo Bichette no chance to get a
glove on Bobby Witt Jr.’s 107.8m.p.h. ground ball up the middle. The single scored Isbel with the game’s first run.
The next hitter was the first to absolutely hammer a ball in the air all day. Pasquantino crushed a firstpitch sinker off the wall in dead centre for a double. Another hard ground single through the drawnin infield followed and the Royals were on their way to a 6-1 win.
After the game, Bassitt was the picture of frustration.
“I think I made truly one bad pitch all day, Pasquantino’s double,” said the 35-year-old Bassitt, who fell to 2-5. “Outside of that, I didn’t make a single bad pitch.”
Nate Pearson was touched up for a three-run homer by Michael Massey (off the foul screen in right field to put the game on ice in the eighth, but it felt like Kansas City’s lead was insurmountable once that threerun sixth was done. That’s a testament not only to how well Lugo was pitching, but just how inept the Jays offence has been through 32 games.
It feels to many like simply a continuation of last year’s offensive woes, but it’s not. It’s so much worse.
The 2023 Jays scored 4.6 runs per game: dead middle in the majors, 15th out of 30 teams. They were seventh with a .329 team on-base percentage, so quite good at not getting out. With 20 per cent of the 2024 season in the rear-view mirror, Jays hitters — aside from bright lights Justin Turner, Daulton Varsho, Jansen and Schneider — haven’t been very good at much of anything.
Wednesday’s game was their seventh with one run or none. There have been 13 games in which they’ve scored no more than twice.
They’re averaging just 3.5 runs per game; only the horrendous Chicago White Sox and Oakland A’s have been worse.
“We’ll get better,” manager John Schneider said after the game.
“We’re confident that we will.”
It was pointed out that Jays fans have been hearing that for quite some time.
“They’re going to get bored of me saying the same thing,” answered the skipper. “It’s not: It’s going to come. It will. It’s May first. It will come. We will be better, that’s what I can say to them. And I would hope that our fans trust the fact that we have really good players, that they understand they’re not performing up to their expectations, and I hope they know that we will be better.”
Bassitt believes the schedule has been a factor, outside of three games against the lowly Colorado Rockies.
“No disrespect to them, because I think they can win the World Series, but Houston might be the worst team we’ve played so far,” Bassitt said. “I’ve got a (5.45 ERA, Kevin Gausman’s) got a five … we’ve played a really hard schedule and haven’t played our best, and yet we’re close to .500. I think a lot can turn really fast. I just think a lot of guys are frustrated with where we’re at right now.”
They’re not alone. Thursday’s offday couldn’t be better timed.