{"id":585878,"date":"2026-04-04T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/585878\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:57:12","slug":"blue-jays-frustrating-week-continues-with-sloppy-loss-to-white-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/585878\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays’ frustrating week continues with sloppy loss to White Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2013 With Anthony Kay pitching to Reese McGuire, there were plenty of reminders of the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> throughout Saturday afternoon\u2019s game against the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, they also played like it was 2019, coughing up a late lead, making needless outs on the bases and throwing the ball around on defence as they lost for the fourth time in five games to fall to 4-4 on the season.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays are now assured of series losses against both the Rockies and White Sox and what appeared to be\u00a0a forgiving week on the schedule has largely been squandered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Big picture, yes, this is a talented group with a respectable 4-4 record and 154 games remaining. But this has still been an exceptionally difficult week, especially since injuries to Cody Ponce and Alejandro Kirk<\/a> are further testing the Blue Jays\u2019 depth, with Kirk officially hitting the injured list due to a fractured left thumb Saturday.<\/p>\n

Midway through the sixth inning, the Blue Jays looked to be turning the momentum around. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a> had just homered to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead, but Brendon Little<\/a> entered the game and immediately got into trouble.<\/p>\n

Miguel Vargas doubled off Little to lead off the sixth and the next hitter, Munetaka Murakami, hit a no-doubt home run to centre field. Two batters later, Colson Montgomery hit another home run, extending Chicago\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n

Little has now allowed more earned runs than outs recorded in three of his five appearances this season. More than half of the total hitters he has faced have reached base \u2013 often on hard contact. And while he\u2019d ideally neutralize left-handed hitters, both hitters to homer off him Saturday bat left-handed.<\/p>\n

The case for optioning him to the minors to revisit his mechanics and build some confidence has never been stronger. Whether the Blue Jays decide to send him down remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, the Blue Jays\u2019 pitching was strong Saturday, with Lazaro Estrada providing four scoreless, hitless innings. And after narrowly missing his first home run of the season in the fourth inning, Guerrero Jr. hit a no-doubter into the left field bleachers in the sixth.<\/p>\n

Still, the Blue Jays cost themselves a chance for further damage from Guerrero Jr. in the seventh when Tyler Heineman<\/a> was caught trying to advance to third on a sacrifice fly. Making the third out at third is a baseball no-no, especially with a hitter like Guerrero Jr. on deck.<\/p>\n

Later, Heineman’s tough day would continue as he threw a ball into shallow left field during a rundown, allowing the White Sox to add two unearned runs.<\/p>\n

Before the game, the Blue Jays placed Kirk on the injured list with a fractured left thumb, an injury that will sideline him for weeks to come. A visit with Dr. Thomas J. Graham Monday will help determine next steps and timelines for Kirk, who\u2019d ideally avoid surgery.<\/p>\n

Considering his impact on the team\u2019s offence and pitching staff, the loss of Kirk will be significant for however long he\u2019s on the sidelines, but the Blue Jays are hoping Brandon Valenzuela can help minimize the impact of his absence alongside Heineman.<\/p>\n

Acquired from the Padres for Will Wagner last summer, the 25-year-old Valenzuela hit 15 total home runs in the minor leagues last year while earning a reputation as a strong defender. With Kirk playing at the World Baseball Classic this spring, Valenzuela got plenty of time with Blue Jays pitchers, which should help him transition smoothly at the MLB level.<\/p>\n

All told, rival scouts consider Valenzuela\u2019s skillset MLB-ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re getting a really talented young guy that did a great job in spring training,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cNot just performance-wise but from learning our process and understanding what the pitchers are going to do, what they want to do and how we like to prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n

As both Heineman and Valenzuela are switch-hitters, there\u2019s no clear platoon here, but Schneider expects a \u201cpretty even split\u201d \u2013 at least for now.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Blue Jays will look to avoid a sweep with Eric Lauer on the mound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2013 With Anthony Kay pitching to Reese McGuire, there were plenty of reminders of the 2019 Toronto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-585878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}