It was a combination of poor situational hitting, defensive miscues and bullpen woes that led to yet another series loss for the Blue Jays, to one of the weaker rosters in MLB. Though it’s only April 4th, there continue to be growing concerns about the performance on the field. Let’s take a look at what happened in Saturday’s contest.
Both teams began the game with openers. The White Sox opted to deploy Grant Taylor for the second game in a row; the Blue Jays countered with Mason Fluharty. Taylor looked phenomenal once again, holding the top of the lineup hitless in his lone inning of work. Fluharty, on the other hand, would allow a base hit to Lenyn Sosa, who was brought in by Munetaka Murakami via a sacrifice fly, giving the White Sox an early 1-0 lead.
Come the second inning, the Blue Jays resorted to Lazaro Estrada to cover the bulk of the game’s innings, with the White Sox bringing in former Blue Jay Anthony Kay. Both long men were outstanding through the fifth inning, keeping both lineups scoreless, until Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped in in the top of the sixth. After just missing a home run earlier in the ballgame, Guerrero deposited a 91 mph slider into left field, giving the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead.
Though it was promising to see Guerrero connect for his first home run of the year, the lead was immediately relinquished in the bottom half of the inning, when Brendon Little entered to face the middle part of the White Sox lineup. To say it has been a horrendous start to the season for the southpaw would be an understatement. Coming into today’s contest, his ERA was approaching the 19 mark, and it would only grow yet again.
Miguel Vargas led-off the inning with a double, bringing up Murakami with an opportunity to tie it or even give the White Sox the lead. He took a 94 mph sinker from Little 431 feet to dead centre, and the White Sox went up 3-2. Mere minutes later, Colson Montgomery also went deep, suddenly giving the White Sox a 4-2 lead.
In the seventh inning, the Blue Jays would load the bases against former Jay reliever Jordan Hicks, and with Nathan Lukes pinch-hitting for Davis Schneider, he sent a fly ball to right field that would bring Myles Straw home via a sacrifice fly. Though they brought the score to within one, Tyler Heineman was tagged out advancing to third base, which cost Guerrero an opportunity to come up with multiple runners on base.
Heineman then had a horrific eighth inning. New reliever Braydon Fisher surrendered an infield single to Luisangel Acuña that was cut off by Ernie Clement. The infielder caught Vargas as he was rounding third base, resulting in a run-down. Heineman subsequently threw the ball into left field, allowing two more runs to score, giving the White Sox a 6-3 lead they would not relinquish.
Takeaways…
Though the Jays are just eight games into their season, the offence as a whole has simply not looked sharp. They have put up more than five runs in a game once, during a comeback against the Athletics in game two of the season. They’ve been outhit 18-13 by the White Sox through the first two games of the series and haven’t been unable to find timely hits with runners in scoring position.
Underperformance is a concern, though their hitters are bound to break out of the funk they’re currently in. The more notable issue from today’s contest was the injury bug. Alejandro Kirk was recently placed on the injured list with a thumb fracture, and Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho both came up grimacing after fouling balls off their ankles. Numerous bats in the lineup are yet to get going, and should the team suffer another injury, their lineup becomes that much more depleted.
The other pressing issue in the bullpen is Brendon Little. In 3.2 innings this season, he has allowed 10 runs and looks nothing like the pitcher he was in Spring Training. His velocity has dropped, his location has become incredibly inconsistent, and he appears to be struggling to find any confidence on the mound. With Mason Fluharty as the only other lefty in the bullpen currently, the team may need to search for another option either internally or through the trade market; Little cannot continue pitching for the big league club.
We must remember that the baseball season is 162 games, and a lot can change from series to series. Eric Lauer takes the ball for the Blue Jays tomorrow afternoon for yet another 2:10 pm ET start, as the team looks to salvage the final game in Chicago and regain momentum before the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town Monday night.
