Missed Opportunities Leave Blue Jays With Loss

The Blue Jays left 10 runners on base in their extra innings loss to the Mariners

Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

With a full count and bases loaded, Marcus Semien twisted his bat and brought the barrel up to his ear. 

He danced from foot to foot in the box as J.T. Chargois dealt home. A 96-mph fastball darted toward the top of the zone and just by the outstretched barrel of Semien, who looked skyward.

It was one of those games. With every inning and at bat, another statistic was added to the box score — a few hits, errors, a handful of runs too. It seesawed back and forth, with the Jays jumping ahead 1-0, to fall behind 4-1, only to tie it up and fall behind again. Toronto tallied 12 hits and seven runs Wednesday against the Mariners, but missed opportunities left them short of their final comeback attempt.

"Of course we could’ve had more," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said after the game. "But you gotta give them credit for making big pitches when they had to."

In the eighth, the Sahlen Field lights started flashing before the ball even landed. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. climbed the zone and drove a monster fly ball 30 feet beyond the left-field wall. Gurriel’s no-doubt shot tied the game at six but would be Toronto's last clawback.

Though Toronto's late-game bullpen has drawn the most focus, it was the early dropped opportunities that sunk the Blue Jays Wednesday. Toronto opened the game with a walk and a single but failed to score in the first inning. They similarly tagged Seattle's Justus Sheffield for three straight baserunners to start the second frame but pushed just one run across. They were on Seattle's starter early, and it seemed runs would come, but the missed opportunities ended up costly.

"You always want to capitalize," Montoyo said.

Toronto left 10 runners on base and committed 15 outs with runners in scoring position. The Jays also committed three errors, but efficient relief pitching allowed none of the accidental base runners to score unearned.

In the seventh Anthony Kay took a toss back from Riley Adams and stared into his glove. He readjusted his glasses and Blue Jays cap, exhaled, and drove at home plate. As the pitch touched leather, Kay turned on the spot and calmly walked toward Toronto’s dugout as Adams started the ball around the infield.

After Steven Matz and Trent Thornton were tagged for the game’s first six runs, Kay saved Toronto’s bullpen and extended the win window. The lefty finished with 4.0 IP, allowing just one hit and no runs. Kay carried the baton from Thornton to Jordan Romano, but after Toronto expended their most trusted reliever, the win slipped away.

In the top of the tenth inning, Dylan Moore turned on a Patrick Murphy fastball, pushing the ball over the left-field wall and capitalizing on the opportunities Toronto’s offense failed to in the early innings.

While Wednesday’s loss will go down as the latest bullpen L and another showcase of Toronto’s late-game struggles, it was a game they lost in the opening frames. Toronto’s offense is the core of the team and will carry them to many more wins, but Wednesday the lineup left too many runs on the field.

“We scored enough to make it a game," Montoyo said. "But it wasn’t enough in the end.”