Blue Jays bullpen has company in miserable loss as Yankees finish off the sweep
![Blue Jays starting pitcher T.J. Zeuch delivers to the plate during the first inning against the Yankees at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday, June 17, 2021.](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/torontosun/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/TJ-ZEUCH-JUNE17-scaled-e1623985566741.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=Ij8PHfxoYypNQ6u4n3TTSQ)
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The youthful optimism and accompanying resilience that had been the defining trait of an up-and-coming Blue Jays team is slowly slipping away.
And as the numbing losses continue to mount, that buoyancy has been replaced by frustration as the team endured yet another loss Thursday night at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, adding to the pile of ugly defeats over the past seven days.
While the beleaguered bullpen has been the prime culprit in the Jays four-game losing streak, an 8-4 loss to the New York Yankees was a further kick in the rump as manager Charlie Montoyo’s team found a new head shaker to go with the all-too-familiar ones dragging this team down.
In getting swept away by the Yankees — a team that hadn’t exactly been lighting it up before landing in Western New York — the Jays gave up a lead in the seventh inning or later in each of the three games as they fell to 33-34.
It’s the first time they’ve been below .500 since they were 11-12 back on April 27 and the ways in which they are losing is at least as concerning as the results. It was the 10th loss the Jays have suffered while leading after the sixth inning and fifth time in the past 10 days.
The resilience the team has shown in the past may be put to the test, but the Jays are taking consolation in the fact they’ve been in most games they’ve played.
“The past couple games didn’t go our way but we’re in every single game,” infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio said. “That’s a good sign.
“A couple things go our way and we might not be having this conversation.”
Still, the Jays have lost four of their past five — all against divisional opponents — and are a team that looks more and more lost by the contest. The Yankees rode a four-run seventh to their victory, but the sloppy shenanigans began long before that.
In fact, on this night the woes initiated with the Jays offence, of all places, when in the bottom of the first a ground ball off the bat of Vlad Guerrero Jr. exposed bone-headed running mistakes from Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette and helped the Yankees turn a nifty triple play.
Instead of a guaranteed couple of runs, nada — and in embarrassing fashion.
“I think everything,” Montoyo said when asked what went wrong on the play. “That’s going to happen. Young kids are going to make mistakes.”
Just for fun, the Jays grounded into a double play to end the second after gifting the Yankees a run in the top half of the inning thanks to goof-up by starting pitcher T.J. Zeuch, who threw a ball into the outfield after trying to make a play at second.
It’s difficult to imagine that frustration isn’t running deep by now as the Jays are losing touch with the division leaders and are firmly in fourth place in the AL East.
There is zero confidence in the bullpen — a well-earned sentiment as we saw yet again on Thursday — and the team has noticeably regressed on defence in recent days.
The cheerleading optimists point to a glut of games coming up against the lowly Orioles starting Friday in Baltimore as some sort of salvation. Good luck with that.
A team in poor form may have done untold damage in recent days and has to snap out of its laggardly ways in a hurry.
A group with such formidable firepower surely has several winnings runs in them before they’re done and they certainly have plenty of time to turn things around. But with such little hope in the late innings is already starting to compromise them seriously. All three Yankees wins were comebacks.
With the injured list loaded with pitchers, the Jays simply don’t have the bullpen arms to be competitive. And the longer it continues, the more distant they risk falling. Zeuch got the spot start on what turned out to be a bullpen day because the regular arm in that spot of the rotation, Steven Matz, is on the COVID-19 list.
With the latest loss, the Jays have dropped six of their past eight and are a mediocre 12-15 in the division. The offence will continue to win them games but until help arrives for the bullpen, a team that entered the season with so much optimism will struggle to be much more than a .500 prospect.
GAME ON
Before the Yankees went ahead in the seventh, the Jays were robbed of a golden chance to move ahead 6-3 until New York right fielder Aaron Judge intervened. Judge used all of his 6-foot-7 frame to reach over the wall and snag a ball that denied Cavan Biggio of what would have been a two-run homer … That triple play, by the way, made history for being an MLB first – 1-3-6-2-5-6 … The Jays took a 4-3 lead into the seventh but reliever Anthony Castro took care of that by allowing four consecutive hits, the most damaging being a two-run shot to Giancarlo Stanton … Lefty Tim Mayza allowed a two RBI single to Chris Gittens to up the Bronx Bombers lead to 7-4.
RANT TIME
Why is it perceived as a crisis when Yankee fans (who by the way come in droves to the Rogers Centre as well) invade Buffalo’s Sahlen Field but it’s something magical when Jays fans do the same in Seattle? … Can we stop with the “look how sad Vlad was after the game” story line? You expect him to be smiling in the dugout, especially given the excruciating losses of late? The cameras zoom on him because he’s the face of the team. The reaction is natural … Tired of no radio play-by-play broadcasts? You should be and you should also get used to it. We’re hearing that no matter where the Jays end up playing this season and how deep they go, there will not be dedicated play-by-play, making the team a league-wide joke in that department. We are also hearing, however, that Rogers intends to revisit the situation for 2022.
AROUND THE BASES
The roster exodus continued for the Jays prior to Thursday’s game with Teoscar Hernandez leaving for a maximum off three days while on the paternity list and late-inning reliever Rafael Dolis headed to the injury list with a right finger strain … Game 3 of George Springer’s rehab assignment was a Thursday matinee in Rochester. Springer played in centre field for the triple A Bisons and went 1-for-4, the hit being a double.
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