Time continues to tick away for the Toronto Blue Jays this season as they chase the final playoff spot in the American League.
The Jays began a stretch of 30 games against teams currently below .500 to close out the season Tuesday night but were left with more ground to make up after a mistake-ridden 5-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals that dropped them to 64-69 on the season.
The first blunder came on a throwing error by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the sixth inning that cost the Jays two runs. And the second was the final play of the game when Nathan Lukes was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double down two runs, and stranding Guerrero on deck as the tying run.
Manager John Schneider told reporters after the game that the Jays’ persistent offensive struggles can cause impactful mistakes in tight games.
“Everything gets magnified when you’re not scoring, then you get a little over-anxious, I think, when you’re trying to make something happen,” Schneider said.
“Everybody’s got to play well,” said Toronto starter Max Scherzer, who allowed two earned runs in five innings. “That’s how you win ball games at the big-league level. You’ve got to pitch, got to hit, got to play defence, bullpen, bench guys, you name it.”
The Jays have the lowest-scoring offence in MLB with 524 runs in 133 games. They’ve also hit the second-fewest home runs (124) across the league and are second-last in on-base plus slugging (.686).
Their lack of power means they have to hit with runners on base. So far this year, they haven’t.
They were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position against the Royals Tuesday night, with the only hit coming on Lukes’ two-run single that ultimately proved to be the final out. Toronto continues to sit last in OBP with RISP (.305) as well as total OPS (.677). This puts more pressure on every facet of the team and magnifies mistakes, according to Schneider.
“I think it’s just little things,” the manager said. “It seems tough to get a hit with runners on right now. You want to have that category tick up a little bit and then just playing clean, playing tight.
“We gave away some runs today and missed pitches to hit.”
Guerrero’s defensive miscue came amid a strong season defensively as he sits in the 81st percentile in field run value according to MLB Statcast. But his throwing error on a sacrifice bunt cost the Jays two runs, which ultimately proved to be the difference in Tuesday’s game.
“I think he barehanded it and got his feet stuck with where he was,” Schneider said via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “It’s a tough play with a runner right at the edge of the dirt and the grass, then it glances off him. That’s a tough play when they’re putting pressure on you. You make sure the runner’s not going to score, then you’ve just got to execute the throw.”
Guerrero was 1-for-4 with a double at the plate and is now slashing .262/.335/.354 with seven home runs and 46 RBI on the season.
As for Lukes’ baserunning gaffe, Schneider would have liked to have seen Guerrero reach the plate with a chance to tie the game.
“If it’s going to be that close, I think you just put the brakes on and try to keep the inning going,” Schneider said.
Of the seven teams within four and a half games of the AL’s final playoff spot, four won last night, including the wild-card-leading Cleveland Guardians. This dropped the Jays to three games back with 29 games to go. According to FanGraphs, the Jays currently have a 10.6 per cent to make the playoffs.
Spencer Miles will fill in for the injured Shane Bieber and start Wednesday while Randy Dobnak will counter for the Royals.
