Second day in a row Jays get beat by the slimmest of margins

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There was likely a bit of a traffic jam as the Blue Jays attempted to get out of American Friendly Field in Milwaukee.

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Their hosts over the past three days proved to be a rather frustrating bunch, with their ability to score without even needing to get the ball out of the infield.

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The Brewers tied the series at one on Wednesday night manufacturing two runs in the eighth inning of an eventual 2-1 victory with only one ball hit out of the infield against hard-luck submariner Tyler Rogers, who had been so dominant prior to that night.

The Brewers then won the series with a 2-1 win on Thursday as they turned a walk and three consecutive bunts into the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.

It left the Jays still looking for its second series win of 2026 after sweeping the Oakland A’s to begin the campaign.

The frustration level already has to be relatively high in the Toronto clubhouse as it deals with a deluge of injuries that have decimated John Schneider’s preferred lineup, but that level took another jump as the Jays got beat on back-to-back days in the most pull-your-hair-out kind of way.

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The small-ball approach from the Brewers is not new. Manager Pat Murphy loves that style of attack, particularly for the bottom part of his order, who are traditionally the weakest hitters in the lineup.

But this group, particularly yesterday’s crew, knows how to bunt.

It started with the walk to Garrett Mitchell by Jays reliever Tommy Nance. Greg Jones then followed up with a textbook sacrifice bunt that moved Mitchell to second and required a perfect throw from Jays catcher Tyler Heineman just to get Jones at first.

That was all for Nance as lefty Joe Mantiply came on. David Hamilton greeted him with bunt single, moving Mitchell to third before Joey Ortiz followed with the third perfect bunt deadening the ball just between the home plate cut-out and into that first cut of grass to bring Mitchell home with the eventual winning run.

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It was small ball executed to perfection, and while the Brewers celebrated, the Jays had to be collectively sighing with no shortage of head shaking at the prospect of getting beat that way.

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The Jays will gladly get on their charter and make their way to Arizona where they open another three-game series Friday night after consecutive losses like that.

Some takeaways from Thursday’s matinee matchup in Milwaukee:

TOUGH DAY BEHIND THE PLATE

And we’re not talking about either Tyler Heineman or William Contreras, the two catchers in the game. The toughest day belonged to home plate umpire Nestor Ceja.

Ceja’s ball/strike judgment was called into question eight times in the game as the Brewers and Jays made full use of the ABS system that allows hitters, pitchers and catchers to challenge ball and strike calls throughout the game if they think one has been incorrectly called.

Each team has two for the game but as soon as two challenges are lost, that team loses their ability to challenge any more balls or strikes.
Ceja’s day was so bad that both teams finished the game with challenges in the bank and that was after a total of eight challenges, seven of which were successful.

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CORBIN SETTLES IN

Patrick Corbin wasn’t necessarily at his best in his Blue Jays debut last Friday, but outing No. 2 looked a lot more like the crafty lefty he has been throughout his career.

Corbin was signed in a bit of a hurry after the Jays lost Cody Ponce for the season after he sustained a right knee ACL sprain that required surgery.

Corbin had one start with single-A Dunedin before he was brought to Toronto and not surprisingly looked a little off in his debut allowing four runs in four innings in his first start with Toronto last Friday.

But Thursday in Milwaukee he looked every bit the crafty left-handed veteran the Jays expected when they signed him.

Corbin gave the Jays 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball allowing just four hits while striking out six on Thursday.

He was mixing all of his extensive repertoire of pitches and had the Brewers off balance all afternoon.

It wasn’t necessarily the Brewers No. 1 lineup with Milwaukee having some injury issues of its own, but Corbin gave the Jays the chance to win this series and that’s all his new team was asking of him.

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QUICK HITS

Pretty good day for Heineman behind the plate on Thursday for the Jays. He threw out a runner, drove in a run with a sacrifice bunt of his own and had Corbin comfortable and in control for his entire stint on the mound. He was quick to jump on those bunts too to minimize base runners … Love the attention to detail by the Jays coaching staff who caught Trevor Megill, the Brewers closer, who was brought in for the eighth inning this time around, scuffing up the ball on his pants and demanding plate umpire Ceja replace the ball. It clearly got under Megill’s skin based on his stare down and words for the Jays bench following the inning. It didn’t throw him off his game this time, but that sort of thing can really work to a team’s advantage and the Jays know this … First DH day of the season for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. meant first day of first base duty for Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto who until yesterday had played only third base. Okamoto looked very comfortable at first making all the plays he needed to.

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UP NEXT

The Jays head to Arizona where LHP Eric Lauer who has been pitching through illness the past couple of starts looks to get back in the groove. He’ll take on Canadian right-hander Mike Soroka who was so good for Canada in the World Baseball Classic and is off to a 3-0 start with a tidy 2.87 ERA for the Diamondbacks so far. First pitch is 9:40 p.m.

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