The Blue Jays fell back below the .500 mark Saturday with their second straight 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla. Here’s what you need to know:
One swing was all it took.
In the bottom of the first inning, Junior Caminero belted a Jos茅 Berr铆os slurve deep into the Florida night, a no-doubt 387-foot blast to left field with two runners aboard for all the runs the Rays would get, and more than they would need.
Berr铆os聽had been shaky early, having issued a one-out walk and then given up a ground-rule double to Brandon Lowe that one-hopped the wall in right-centre ahead of the Caminero shot.
This week, we talk to two of the players most consequential to the Jays’ recent turnaround
The right-hander settled down after that, retiring 13 in a row and 17 of 18 before turning it over to the bullpen, and Mason Fluharty and Paxton Schultz provided two innings of no-hit relief, but the damage was done.
The Jays’ only run came on a 423-foot line-drive home run to left-centre by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leading off the sixth. His seventh round-tripper moved him into a tie with Daulton Varsho for the club lead.
The Jays have spent 11 of the last 13 games either at .500 or within one game of the break-even mark. Never worse than two games under, but never better than one game over.
Fastballs
On-base machine: Guerrero’s home run extended his on-base streak to 24 games, the longest active run in the major leagues. Over that span, he’s hitting .278 with an .856 OPS, two doubles, five home runs and 16 walks.
Struggling Springer: While Guerrero is going strong, George Springer is experiencing his biggest cold spell of the season. The 35-year-old went 0-for-4聽 with three ground outs and a fly out, leaving him with just three hits in his last 34 at-bats. His season OPS has dropped聽 from .921 to .804 over the last 11 games.
Garcia gone: Before the game, the Jays placed reliever Yimi Garcia on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement. The 34-year-old last pitched Thursday, a shutout eighth inning while protecting a 4-2 lead in the Jays’ eventual 7-6 extra-inning win over the San Diego Padres at the Rogers Centre. That was Garcia’s 21st appearance in a season that has yet to hit the one-third mark, a heavy workload for the veteran right-hander who missed the last 42 days of last season with right elbow inflammation. Garcia will head back to 海角社区官网to be examined. Schultz was called up to replace him.
Mailbag
Theo in London, Ont. found me on BlueSky @wilnerness to ask:聽“How does the club get call-ups from Buffalo to Toronto? The QEW is a parking lot, especially on summer weekends. It was probably easier to get Schultz to Tampa than to the dome.”
Theo, I wish I could tell you that the Jays had a hydrofoil skimming across Lake Ontario from Buffalo, or a secret underwater tunnel to cut the trip between the cities in half, but no. They have a car service to drive the players who get called up from Buffalo to the dome. Generally, a call-up will find out he’s headed to the big club the night before, so they can hit the road in the morning and make it well before the next game, regardless of the heavy traffic on the QEW that none of us can stand.
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