Tempers Flare As Jays Lose in Tampa, Setting Up Final Postseason Sprint

The Blue Jays have 10 games left to make a case for postseason baseball in October

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

It was an unfamiliar feeling. A game that got away early and never came back into reach.

The Toronto Blue Jays hadn’t lost a series in a month. But, as Austin Meadows connected on a grooved fastball in the second inning, delivering a crushing early slam, the dropped three-game set became a quick reality.

Coming into Wednesday, the Blue Jays were 16-4 in September. Early leads have been protected and quick deficits overcome. They’ve thrust themselves back into the playoff conversation by beating the teams they’re supposed to and topping the best franchises in the league, too. Not Wednesday. For the first time in weeks, the Jays dropped a true stinker.

"Our first couple of guys struggled, and we got in a hole pretty quick," Manager Charlie Montoyo said after the game.

Returning to his seat on the road dugout bench, George Springer exhaled with frustration in the top of the first. Toronto hadn’t allowed a run or missed a bases-loaded opportunity yet, but Wednesday’s tone had already been set. Springer had sent a diving liner into left field, dropping for a clear first-pitch hit before Randy Arozarena stole the knock with his glove, seizing momentum the Jays would never get back.

Less than three innings later, the game was already in salvage mode. A re-shaped Blue Jay bullpen has been crucial in their fall turnaround, but Wednesday they were tasked with self-preservation. With no other role than eating innings, Taylor Saucedo, Ryan Borucki, Anthony Castro, and Nate Pearson did their job — but the success ended there Sunday.

The Blue Jays haven’t had to rebound from a loss like this in weeks, but it’s the type of defeat they’ve bounced back from all season — for October aspirations, it’s imperative they do it once more. Coming out of Wednesday afternoon’s game, the challenge has never been clearer.

It takes just quick math to find Toronto’s path to 91 or 92 wins, but chasing win totals no longer matters during this final sprint. The Blue Jays are tied with the New York Yankees in the loss column with 10 games remaining — four against the Minnesota Twins, three against those Yankees, and a final home series with three against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Jays have avoided losses like Wednesday’s all month, but like the 151 games that preceded it, the defeat no longer matters. With three series left in the season, the Blue Jays have 10 final opportunities to state their October case.

"This is the first series we lost," Montoyo said. "We won seven in a row, we're playing good baseball. Today our pitching struggled and we got behind, but we're playing good baseball. [The players] know that, they know what's going on."

Ryan Borucki and Pete Walker Ejected:

With six outs left in the drawn-out Blue Jays loss, Ryan Borucki released a first-pitch fastball that Kevin Kiermaier couldn't avoid. 

Two days after Kiermaier picked up a dropped scouting report card at home plate, the Tampa outfielder jawed out toward the mound as he took his base in the eighth inning. Benches cleared, Rays manager Kevin Cash berated the umpiring crew, and Borucki was ejected after a delay. The left-handed reliever spoke with the media after Wednesday's game, saying the hit batter was accidental, missing arm side with the pitch, but adding he thought Kiermaier shouldn't have picked up the card on Monday.

“Play happened, I wanted to go down and away, as I was coming forward I felt the ball come out of my hand," Borucki said.

Pitching coach Pete Walker, out on the field with the rest of both teams, began a heated with head umpire Joe West that earned him an ejection, as well.