Early deficits and lack of clutch hits sink Blue Jays in series versus Phillies

Series Recap: Early deficits and lack of clutch hits sink Blue Jays in series versus Phillies

It hasn’t happened often in the past two months, but the Toronto Blue Jays lost a series.

While this is only their fourth series loss since April 20th, what sunk them has been a problem all season: failing to get a hit with runners in scoring position. Ultimately, the Phillies took two of three, bringing the Blue Jays’ record to 33-36.

Monday’s game was a tough matchup for the Blue Jays, as Cristopher Sánchez made the start for the Phillies. Fellow lefty Patrick Corbin made the start for the Blue Jays, giving up a two-run home run in the top of the second. The Phillies scored three more runs in the top of third for an early 5-0 lead.

Sánchez is a favourite for the National League Cy Young for a reason, striking out 10 Blue Jays over seven innings of work. However, the Jays did get to the lefty, with Yohendrick Piñango driving in a run with a ground out, before Ernie Clement took Sánchez deep for his seventh home run of the season.

At the end of the day, the Jays couldn’t find the clutch hit. Piñango led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, moving to third on an error. George Springer, Nathan Lukes, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. struck out. In the seventh, Myles Straw walked to bring the tying run to the plate, but Brandon Valenzuela grounded out.

Once again, the tying run was brought to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, as Piñango walked and Nathan Lukes hit a one-out single. But Guerrero Jr. struck out, and Kazuma Okamoto just missed hitting a game-tying home run. In the end, the Blue Jays were 0-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding six, in the 5-2 loss.

Looking to avoid their first series loss at Rogers Centre in nearly a month, the Blue Jays fell in a hole early in Tuesday’s game, as Brandon Marsh hit an RBI double. The score stood that way until Jesús Sánchez hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, tying it at one.

In the top of the ninth, a lead-off walk surrendered by Louis Varland led to just his second earned run allowed this season, nearly doubling his ERA as it jumped from 0.26 to 0.50. Yes, he’s been that good.

Thankfully, he wasn’t tagged with the loss. Sánchez hit a lead-off single in the bottom half of the inning, then Piñango hit a single to move Straw, who pinch ran for Sánchez, to third. With runners on the corner, pinch runner Daulton Varsho stole second base, which was followed by a wild pitch that brought the game-tying run home.

The lone time the Blue Jays got the big hit they needed was with a runner on third and no outs, as Valenzuela walked it off with an RBI single, giving the Jays a 2-1 victory. Dylan Cease was a big reason for the win, going six innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts.

Once again, the Blue Jays fell in an early hole in Wednesday’s game. Max Scherzer struck out the first two batters he faced, career strikeouts 3,500 and 3,501, but gave up a solo home run in the top of the first. In the third, he gave up a three run shot, then was responsible for one of the runs that scored on a two-run home run in the top of the fourth.

Down 6-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Jays tacked on a run, but the Phillies immediately responded in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, the first four runners reached courtesy of a single and three walks, but the Jays failed to get the big hit. They did score three, as Clement and Okamoto each hit a sacrifice fly.

Duran appeared in his third consecutive game, and gave up a lead-off single to Springer to begin the bottom of the ninth. However, Guerrero Jr. killed the rally with a double play, and after Clement hit a single, Okamoto struck out looking in a 7-4 loss.

As it stands, the Blue Jays are 3-3 on this home stand and welcome the New York Yankees for a three-game series this weekend. Simply put, they have to find a way to win this series and continue to string wins together.

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