Blue Jays' Series Loss To Yanks A Reminder Of Ruthless AL East

One bad pitch was all it took to put the Blue Jays behind the Yankees Thursday.

© Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO – His name was announced in the seventh inning, and the crowd rose to its feet.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grabbed a bat and walked to the dish, entering as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded in Thursday’s contest. Rogers Centre, to that point, didn’t have much to cheer about as the home club trailed by three runs. So, despite a bum knee that kept him out Wednesday, Guerrero, Toronto’s hero, stood in against soft-tossing Yankees reliever Ryan Weber.

The Blue Jays slugger hacked on the first pitch but didn’t get the contact he wanted. His soft liner tailed towards center field, where New York’s Harrison Bader grabbed it and hucked a throw to home in one motion. Guerrero’s sac fly plated Whit Merrifield. In a big spot, that’s all the Jays would get, as Toronto dropped this one 4-2.

That seventh inning was the Blue Jays’ only real rally of the evening, but it was also their biggest missed opportunity. In a bases-juiced, no-out scenario, Toronto flied out in three consecutive at-bats, plating only one run.

“We didn’t really get the big hit this whole series with guys on base," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

But how did Toronto wedge itself into such a predicament, where a late-inning rally was so necessary? One bad pitch. All the damage came on one mistake pitch from José Berríos, who was otherwise solid through 6.2 innings. Aaron Judge was the culprit – no surprise there – and he left his mark on this game within five minutes.

Gleyber Torres began the game with a single, setting up big No. 99, who, after a whole series of possible sign-stealing shenanigans, continually rose to the occasion. When Berríos served up a juicy fastball, Judge mashed it 430 feet to center field for his fourth homer of this four-game series.

On offense, the Jays slashed in a run early. It had been a short while – seven games to be exact – since Bo Bichette homered. The 25-year-old wasted no time Thursday, blasting a liner to deep left field off Nestor Cortes. His nine longballs this season lead the Jays, which is impressive considering how powerful this Blue Jays lineup can be. Overall, though, Toronto’s offense has lacked extra-base punch, ranking 18th in MLB in homers (47) and 16th in extra-base hits (127), entering Thursday.

There just hasn’t been as much "damage potential," one of Schneider’s favorite buzzwords, in the order this year. Early on, a lot of that juice came from Matt Chapman, but even his heroic momentum has faded. The Jays third baseman hasn’t homered since April 18 and has just one RBI this month. Not good.

Chapman had a chance Thursday, batting with two on and two out in the third inning. But that big moment played out very similarly to some of the 30-year-old’s at-bats in 2021. Cortes pumped fastballs by him as his swings lagged way behind. It wasn’t an especially vicious sequence from the Yankees lefty either: a few cutters in, but mostly four-seamers on the inside black.

No longer does Chapman waltz into the box and terrify hitters; instead, he’s a strikeout vulnerability right now, and he whiffed three times Thursday.

"He’s missing some pitches that he was hitting earlier in the year," Schneider said. "That's it ... This is a tough stretch physically for a lot of guys right now with a lot of games in a row.

"Him being active every single day — that's not an excuse, but it takes a toll on him. So probably just a clip behind pitches he was hammering a month ago, or a couple of weeks ago, even, so, it'll turn [for Chapman]."

The AL East is ruthless, and the struggle will continue on Friday when Toronto welcomes the Orioles for a three-game weekend series. If there's one lesson the Blue Jays can learn from their series defeat to the Yankees, it's that every pitch or opportunity they miss means they're losing ground.