Blue Jays searching for spark to put behind mediocre start
TORONTO – A quarter of the way into the season, the Blue Jays are a baseball team in desperate need of a spark. The brawl in Texas certainly didn’t do it, as consecutive blowout losses against the Tampa Bay Rays followed.
Enter Jimmy Paredes? Paredes, picked up off waivers from Baltimore on Monday, was in the lineup at third base Wednesday night for his first start with Toronto with Josh Donaldson getting the day off for rest. Jose Bautista will be getting one soon, too, either when MLB upholds his one-game suspension for his involvement in the brawl or he drops his appeal.
The game got off to a promising start. In his first at-bat, Paredes smashed a ball over the left field fence to put the Blue Jays up 1-0 in the second inning.
Spark acquired? Not so much. Paredes’ homer was Toronto’s only hit until Michael Saunders hit a solo shot in the fifth. By then the Rays had regained the lead after R.A. Dickey allowed back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning and another run in the fifth. Kevin Kiermaier's two-run home run in the sixth made it 5-2 for Tampa Bay.
Edwin Encarnacion clubbed a home run in the eighth. It too, however, was a one-run endeavor. The Rays added one more run in the ninth for good measure to win the game 6-3. The Blue Jays slumped to a fifth straight loss and the search for a spark continues.
Troy Tulowitzki's verbal fireworks toward the home plate umpire after a botched call that resulted in a strikeout sure didn't do it. After another strikeout, Tulowitzki slammed his helmet down. That's frustration, not a spark. Maybe it's the schedule, with a four-game series against the AL-worst Minnesota Twins starting Thursday and then a three-game set in New York against the Yankees, currently last in the AL East.
"I think this team understands that we’re going to get past this. We’ve just got to start playing better baseball.That includes all phases, pitching, hitting, base-running, defence," said bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who is serving as manager while John Gibbons served the second game of his three-game suspension.
"That’s a good team in that locker-room and we are a good team. There are some good players and we trust them. It’s going to change."
If last year is any lesson, it's too early to pronounce the season over. The Blue Jays are 19-23 through 42 games. They were 18-24 through 42 games in 2015. The difference this season, though, is that the peripheral numbers aren't close to being as encouraging. The offence is 37 runs per game behind last year's pace. The run prevention has been 30 runs better, which helps explain the similar records, but there's less optimism that will continue as the starting rotation has exceeded expectations to this point. According to Sportsnet.ca, left-hander Brett Cecil faces up to a month on the sidelines due to a tear in his lat muscle, leaving an already thin bullpen without a key pitcher for a significant period of time.
Before Toronto can take off, they have to snap what is now their longest losing streak of the season. They sure are not making this division title defence easy on themselves.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Canada Sports:
- - - - - - -
Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
