TORONTO — Friday night marked the Toronto Blue Jays’ first game back from the all-star break and if you’re a romantic, you could probably trick yourself into thinking it represented something akin to a fresh start for the club.
Four days off following a disastrous first half to the season would offer a nice reset, right? A chance to wipe the slate and come back with a renewed spirit? Maybe the Blue Jays could look somewhat different from their last game at Rogers Centre over two weeks ago?
Well, there was a dose of romance to be found on the field during what was a beautiful Friday night in Toronto. However, the end result remained the same.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer invigorated the crowd of 39,697 with their respective two-run home runs but the Blue Jays ultimately fell 5-4 to the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a three-game set.
There were points early on Friday night where fans were clamouring for something to cheer about and Guerrero Jr. delivered in the sixth inning. The Blue Jays were down 3-0 with Tigers ace Jack Flaherty in the midst of twirling a gem.
The right-hander carried a no-hitter into the fifth, but with one on in the sixth, Guerrero Jr. launched a missile into the facing of the second deck for a two-run home run that cut the score to 3-2.
“I think he broke a part of the scoreboard out there,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “That was a pretty impressive at-bat.”
The blast, Guerrero Jr.’s 15th of the season, left his bat at a whopping 117.5 m.p.h. It was the result of a nine-pitch battle between Flaherty and the Blue Jays’ lone all-star, with Guerrero Jr. fouling off three straight four-seamers at one point.
Springer elicited similar roars from the crowd with his two-run shot off Tigers reliever Beau Brieske in the eighth but the Blue Jays offence couldn’t push across any more runs with reliever Jason Foley escaping a jam in the eighth and Tyler Holton pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Flaherty, a free agent at the end of the season, is a candidate to be traded ahead of the July 30 deadline. He allowed two runs and struck out eight over 5.2 frames while facing Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt, who has one-year remaining on his contract. The matchup between the right-handers undoubtedly meant that scouts across the league would have interest in Friday’s game.
Bassitt wasn’t as impressive as his counterpart, though. The Tigers opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Matt Vierling doubled and was driven home by Riley Greene’s single to right field. Mark Canha followed that by depositing a 1-1 changeup from Bassitt over the left field fence for a two-run homer that put the Tigers up 3-0.
Wenceel Perez added a two-run shot off the Blue Jays starter in the seventh frame to chase him from the game. That proved to be the eventual game-winner and Schneider had no regrets about allowing Bassitt to face Perez, the Tigers’ leadoff hitter, for a fourth time.
“He handled Perez pretty well up until that point and just got beat in that one particular at-bat,” said Schneider. “But I’ll take Chris Bassitt any day of the week, third, fourth, fifth time through the order.”
Adding to the misery for the Blue Jays was that shortstop Bo Bichette was removed from the game after limping out of the batter’s box in the sixth inning. He was diagnosed with a right calf strain and it’s an injury that’s been troublesome for Bichette this season.
He spent 10 days on the IL in June with a right calf issue and was removed from last Wednesday’s contest with right calf soreness before missing the club’s remaining four games before the all-star break. The shortstop has struggled mightily this season and owns a .597 OPS that ranks as third-worst among qualified hitters in the majors.
“We’ll see how he is tomorrow and go from there,” said Schneider. “I feel bad for him. It sucks for him and for us.”
The Blue Jays entered the day last in the American League East with 1.9 per cent playoff odds, per FanGraphs. Despite that predicament, though, Bassitt said he would only measure success during the second half by one requirement:
“Make the playoffs. Pitch in the playoffs,” Bassitt said. “We have some really good position players and, I know we’re not producing the numbers, but I still think we have one of the best starting pitching staffs in baseball.”
A romantic sentiment from the right-hander, no doubt.