NEW YORK – Rather than strengthening their hold on the American League East over the weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays allowed the New York Yankees to ever-so-slightly loosen their grip on the division.
Dropping two of three in the Bronx, capped by Sunday’s 4-3 setback, was neither ideal, nor the end of the world, leaving them up two games with 19 contests to go. In that way, their fate remains firmly in their own hands, although less comfortably than it could have been before a six-game homestand opens Tuesday with the first of three versus the Houston Astros.
“I think we’re good, I think we’re good,” all-star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “Obviously not what we wanted here, but you flush it, you rest (Monday) and then try to win the series against Houston.”
Between the Yankees rather obviously relaying Max Scherzer’s pitches, the offence going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and Bo Bichette needing a recovery day after slamming his shin into Austin Wells’ leg guard Saturday, there was ample room for frustration after the finale.
At the same time, there’s no time for wallowing with so little runway remaining, and the Blue Jays facing a difficult final three weeks with seven games versus the Tampa Bay Rays and three each with the Orioles, Red Sox and Royals after the Astros series.
While Bichette’s status – the star shortstop “woke up a little bit more sore” but “was feeling better as (Sunday) went on,” said manager John Schneider – bears watching, boding well for the Blue Jays is the way Guerrero locked in at the plate during the club’s 3-3 road trip.
In his first eight games back after suffering a left hamstring injury Aug. 18 at Pittsburgh and then not starting the next five outings, he went 3-for-28 with five RBIs, two walks and six strikeouts. But since his ninth-inning single in Monday’s 5-4 loss at Cincinnati, he’s 13-for-21 with three doubles, two homers, five RBIs, eight runs and three walks against just one strikeout, which came in the came in the eighth inning Sunday against Devin Williams after Addison Barger had singled and stolen second.
Still, Guerrero’s RBI double in the third inning tied the game 3-3 and left runners at second and third – a crucial opportunity the Blue Jays didn’t cash in on – and he added another base hit in the fifth, as he was a threat every time up.
Missing so many games in a row at the big-league level was “something new,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron, as “obviously it was a pretty big injury.” Since returning, he’s fought to regain his timing, which is being helped by “confidence more than anything. I’ve got to keep trusting myself, keep working for confidence.”
“Definitely in Cincinnati it started,” he added. “A little bit of ups and downs, but I’ve felt good the last few days.”
Guerrero’s initial cold spell after returning isn’t surprising, said Schneider, as missing that much time “throws off your timing a little bit,” he explained. “But I thought he had a really, really good series here and looks to be kind of back to where he was before he got hurt. Scoring from first on Bo’s double on Friday kind of speaks volumes of that, too, that he’s feeling a little bit better and getting into a little bit of a rhythm.”
The Blue Jays lacked that somewhat in Saturday’s 3-1 loss and Sunday, after bashing the Reds for 29 runs in three games before a 7-1 win Friday in the opener versus the Yankees. Schneider felt the Yankees made a conscious adjustment in the final two games of the series, using more spin in an attempt to generate weak contact rather chasing swing and miss, which led a 1-for-10 day with runners in scoring position Saturday, as well.
In that way, there were chances for the Blue Jays to pull off a sweep. It just didn’t happen.
“Max (Fried) did a great job of living on the edges and he was throwing four different pitches on the edges,” said Ty France, who popped out with two on in the second and grounded out with two on in the third during an 0-for-4 day. “Personally, I’ve got to do a better job of taking better swings at those, or letting them go. I had a lot of opportunities to drive in some runs and this could be a different baseball game.”
Others could say the same about Saturday and the narrow margins both days is why France said “I don’t think we really need to change too much, just keep playing our game. … It’s nice having a little bit of a gap, but they’re nipping on our heels so you’ve got to keep playing good baseball, keep stringing wins along and we’ll see where it falls at the end of the year.”
Scherzer echoed those sentiments after emerging from his 4.1 innings and 93 pitches without any issues in his back, which caused him to leave his last start early and take an extra rest day this time around.
“We’re competitive and we’re putting together ABs, everybody’s kind of doing their job,” he said. “As much as this one stinks, we’re still playing good. Obviously it’s September, you want to win, you want to play your best baseball now. But there’s no reason to think we have to rewrite anything. We don’t have to change anything. We just got to continue to play good baseball and the wins and losses will take care of themselves.”
A healthier and locked-in Guerrero will help in a big way, too.
“If I told you that I’m 100 per cent in September, I’d be lying to you, but that’s one of the things that I focus on in the off-season, to work very hard for the last month of the season,” he said. “And the more active I am at this point, the better I feel … just trying to do anything that I’m capable of to help my team win.”
After missing a chance to push the Yankees back, the Blue Jays will need plenty more of that.