The Blue Jays’ losing streak reached five games as they were swept away by the Astros in a 3-1 loss in Houston Wednesday, falling below .500 for the first time since the third game of the season. Here’s what you need to know:
Once again, one rough inning from the starting pitcher did the Jays in. Bowden Francis gave up five straight hits to begin the second inning, including a Christian Walker home run and a Yanier Diaz triple, leading to all three Astro runs.聽
The Jays scored one run on five hits after scoring one run on four hits over the first two games of the series. George Springer doubled to cash a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. single in the fourth inning.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
At no point in the three games in Houston did the Jays ever hold a lead.
Fastballs
This is not that
After Tuesday’s 5-1 loss, starter Chris Bassitt said he understood his team’s offensive issues because they had faced a lot of top-tier pitching to begin the season, and he was right, at least lately. From seeing Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach on April 15 to a date with Houston’s Hunter Brown Monday, the Jays faced six straight elite starting pitchers, then Tuesday got Ronel Blanco, who no-hit them last April.
But Wednesday it was rookie Ryan Gusto, making just his third big-league start.
The 11th-round pick in 2019 lived up to his name, holding the punchless Jays to a run on three hits over 5 2/3 innings, with one walk against six strikeouts.
Getting their work in
The Jays’ high-leverage relievers hadn’t had anything to do in Houston, so with a day off coming up Thursday, manager John Schneider emptied his bullpen.
Chad Green, Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman followed Francis to the mound, the rare time when all three pitched in a game the Jays were trailing. The trio combined for 3 1/3 shutout innings.
Onward Christian Walker
The Astros gave Walker $60 million (U.S.) this off-season to come in and be a slugger (and gold glove defender) at first base, but the 34-year-old was off to a sputtering start to the season, batting just .156 when the Jays came to town.
海角社区官网pitching seems to have gotten him back on track, though. He followed up a 3-for-3 night on Tuesday with that home run leading off the second Wednesday as part of a 2-for-4 night.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Mailbag
BlueJaysGirl reached out to me @wilnerness on Bluesky to ask ”other than hitting, what do the Jays need to start the momentum?”
Honestly, I think that’s about it. There’s always the hope that a big defensive play can get a team going, or a huge strikeout to end an inning or something like that, but really they just need to start hitting.
I don’t believe so much in momentum as it pertains to baseball. It’s not like you can win a battle in the corners or a fight for a loose ball. They get their turn to hit and then you get yours. There are so many games in a season that even when a team is rolling, they still lose about 20 per cent of the time.
But after getting swept in Houston, and going down so meekly, I absolutely get where you’re coming from as far as looking for a momentum shift. A well-timed three-run homer would be nice.
Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star
and host of the baseball podcast 鈥淒eep Left Field.鈥 Follow him on
Twitter:
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation