The Blue Jays’ biggest weakness has long been considered to be a lack of offence, but the pitching staff has proven to be just as problematic a quarter of the way through the regular season.
It would be a stretch to call the pitching a liability but it’s not the strength it was a couple years ago. The team with a slew of high-priced arms ranks near the bottom of the league in runs allowed.
Those problems were apparent during Thursday’s series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays. Veteran Kevin Gausman was roughed up for six runs over 5 2/3 innings in an 8-3 loss. It was second time in his last four outings the normally reliable starter surrendered six runs.
“You’re going to go in waves, unfortunately we haven’t been throwing the ball great the last couple of weeks,” an accountable Gausman said after the loss. “Our offence has kind of saved us in some of those games. Me personally, I just need to be better.”
The left-hander is baffling hitters with a four-seam fastball that “moves an insane amount.”
The roof at the Rogers Centre was open for the first time this season and even though it wasn’t a windy Thursday, the ball was flying out. Gausman surrendered a two-run homer to Brandon Lowe in the first, a solo shot to Kameron Misner in the fourth and a solo home run to Josh Lowe in the fifth.Â
Homers have been an issue for the Jays all season. They have surrendered 64, which trails only the Baltimore Orioles for the most in the majors. That’s why a team that ranks second with 401 strikeouts and has issued the seventh fewest walks sits a disappointing 23rd with a 4.40 ERA.
The struggles have been almost evenly split between the rotation and bullpen. The starters are 27th with a 4.63 ERA while the bullpen ranks 17th at 4.07. The numbers from both have skewed higher of late, with the pitching staff allowing at least five runs in seven of the last 11 games.
Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the recent downturn is that the Jays have been relatively healthy. Max Scherzer has yet to appear in a game because of a thumb issue but the other four in the rotation — José BerrÃos, Chris Bassitt, Bowden Francis and Gausman — have yet to miss a start. The bullpen has been mostly injury-free, with the exception of Nick Sandlin and Erik Swanson.
That means the numbers likely would trend down even more if one of their top guys gets hurt. Gausman is one of those who openly admits the pitchers need to do a much better job.
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“A lot of how we do this season is based on what our pitching staff can do,” said Gausman, who is 3-4 with a 4.59 ERA. “All the best teams I’ve been on that made the post-season, it’s because our staff was really good. Granted, the hitters have timely hitting, and you need to have a good offence to win ball games, but I think we are only as good as our pitchers. When we can go out there and give up three runs or less, I feel pretty confident that we have a chance to win.”
The Jays’ offence deserves some of the blame, too. They scored the fifth fewest runs in the majors through April. The pitching staff was continuously asked to pitch in low-scoring affairs that made every inning feel like a high-leverage situation. That takes a toll.
The lineup bounced back this month with a top-10-ranked offence, but that uptick occurred at the same time the pitching staff began to falter. The fact the two sides have yet to align partially explains a roller-coaster season in which the Jays are up one week and down the next.
The offence was there Thursday. Addison Barger’s second home run of the season came in the second inning and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s fifth homer occurred in the fourth. Nathan Lukes chipped in with a solo shot in the eighth. The recent increase in power has allowed a team that spent most of the year ranked last in home runs to quickly move up to 24th.
“I feel like we’ve been talking about that for about three weeks, how home runs are going to come,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “Seemed like the ball was travelling pretty well with the roof open today. That’s a huge boost for us.”
Now they just need to combine the power with pitching.
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