{"id":780836,"date":"2026-07-05T01:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/780836\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T01:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T01:01:11","slug":"bieber-struggles-again-as-blue-jays-get-thumped-by-mariners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/780836\/","title":{"rendered":"Bieber struggles again as Blue Jays get thumped by Mariners"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2013 Two weeks since returning from the left wrist inflammation that forced him onto the injured list, Daulton Varsho<\/a> is still trying to get back to \u201cmy normal swing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Though he\u2019s feeling better, pain remains when his wrist bends back too far, which is why he why he wears a brace with a guard designed to limit such movement. Given the way his wrist shifts at launch and as he\u2019s \u201claying my barrel into the zone and then staying through\u201d a swing, that\u2019s not exactly ideal for the centre-fielder.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but it\u2019s something I have to work with,\u201d said Varsho. \u201cMaking adjustments, grinding through it, it’s feeling better. I don’t have as much pain, which is awesome. With the all-star break coming up, I don’t know if four days off is going to make it feel great, so it might be something I have to work through the rest of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the reset period offered by the looming all-star break will be welcomed by a Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> team beat up both physically and mentally so far, their trying season extended by an 11-0 thumping from the Seattle Mariners. <\/p>\n

Shane Bieber gave up five two-out runs in the second highlighted by Randy Arozarena\u2019s grand slam during another uneven outing while Logan Gilbert diced up the lineup with perfect-game calibre stuff, allowing only one hit in 7.1 innings with seven strikeouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a good old-fashioned ass-kicking on the Fourth of July,\u201d said manager John Schneider.<\/p>\n

Given how thin the rotation is, Bieber\u2019s status looms large after missing the first half of the season with elbow inflammation. The Blue Jays activated him from the injured list June 22 knowing he would need to finish his build-up at the big-league level, but the seven runs he allowed in 4.2 innings makes it 13 earned runs in 13.2 innings with six homers against over three starts.<\/p>\n

The priority is improving his \u201cexecuting with runners on,\u201d said Bieber, whose slider to Arozarena with the bases loaded was in a good spot down and away but was meant to end up further out of the zone. <\/p>\n

\u201cCan’t be giving up damage with runners on, especially bases loaded; that’s what it comes down to today,” Bieber said. “If I’m able to get out of that, it’s a bit of a different story, and if I keep the guys in the game a little bit longer, then maybe we build some momentum on that end. That’s what it comes down to for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between starts, he\u2019d focused on a mechanical adjustment to generate more momentum down the mound, and he liked where he was at in that regard.<\/p>\n

“What makes it all the more frustrating is physically, I’m feeling great,\u201d said Bieber. \u201cI just need to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beginning with Sunday\u2019s rubber match against the Mariners, when Trey Yesavage starts against Emerson Hancock, the Blue Jays have a week of games remaining, and at 42-47, they understand the need to make up ground before the pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t lay low, you’ve got to push forward and have good games like we did (Friday) night and keep putting pressure on teams,\u201d said Varsho, who went 0-for-2 before coming out of the game in the seventh once Seattle had run up the score. \u201cWe’ve got to make our push because if we don’t, we’re going to get stuck behind a couple of other teams. This is a big series against Seattle, it means something down the road if we’re tied for the wild-card, so we’ve got to fight really well against these teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider has been preaching a similar message through this period, when players feel the toll of the first three-plus months of the season and must fight through the temptation to think about the break as it approaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Manager John Schneider has been preaching a similar message through this period, when players feel the toll of the first three-plus months of the season and must fight through the temptation to think about the break as it approaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve talked about this \u2013 you don’t want to fall into the trap of saying, let\u2019s just get to the break. If you do that, you lose sight on what you’re trying to do,\u201d said Schneider, who is stressing two areas of priority. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne is getting the rotation back on a turn and a half through of some good starts, five, six, seven innings, setting up the bullpen. And, two, really trying to continue to grind an offensive approach day-in and day-out. If that turns into two runs, great, you’re taking positives from each day and just stacking those up. I always say we’re trying to win every series. I know wins are very, very important, but I think taking the little things from every day and really trying to move those on to the next day is important, too. And starters and offence is what I always go to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither went to plan Saturday, as they lost for the eighth time in 11 games, but fell for the first time in a game they didn\u2019t have a chance to win. Their recent 3-7 homestand could easily have been reversed with a hit here, a pitch there, but the inconsistencies on that front have been a constant all season long, right alongside the stream of injuries.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why their longest win streaks are a pair of four-gamers, while they\u2019ve twice lost six straight games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been frustrating for most guys,\u201d said Varsho. \u201cWe’ll pitch well and play good defence and then we won’t hit. Like, something’s always off. We haven’t really hit our stride with everything in every single game, where we put together our win streak. But overall, if you look at the games we’ve played, there are some good things we do in a lot of games, so we can take a little bit from those. But our consistency has to come out to where we’re doing everything right, and we’re putting ourselves in a good spot to win that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point there\u2019s little solace for the Blue Jays knowing the way they took off in June last season, or that past teams, like the 2015 club, took off after the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Each group faces its own dynamics and must find \u201cyour identity, whatever it is,\u201d said Varsho.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we put the ball in play a lot. We don’t strike out much. We need to walk a little bit more, hit a couple more homers and we’ll be where we need to be, allowing ourselves to get our A swings off early on in the count instead of trying to put the ball in play,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe know that when it comes down to two strikes, we can do that. \u2026 We know we work elite pitchers hard, and we push them to their limits. When we face the threes, fours and fives, we’ve got to do more damage in those games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider describes that balance as being centred in approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not telling guys to go up there and walk \u2013 teams are coming after us because they know we put the ball in play,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo it is being really, really stubborn with an area where you can hit the ball hard and not budging until you get to two strikes. When you’re doing that, you’re dictating the at-bat and chasing the pitcher out of those zones and that’s where walks come into play. If you continue to do that, hopefully you clip one or two with some guys on, like we did at home, and that’s the key. The walks are one thing we talk about a lot, if you’re not slugging, you’ve got to get some traffic and either slug or move the line down with some contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week of games remains for the Blue Jays to start putting that theory into practice on a more consistent basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2013 Two weeks since returning from the left wrist inflammation that forced him onto the injured list,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-780836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}