Anthony Santander can't get it going as Blue Jays denied series sweep at Fenway

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A perennially slow starter, Anthony Santander has done nothing to change that narrative in this his first season with the Blue Jays.

The switch-hitting outfielder saw his former teammates in Toronto when the Orioles were in town to help usher in the Jays’ home opener, and will return to Baltimore for the first time as a member of the opposition during a weekend series at Camden Yards beginning Friday night.

Santander spent eight seasons in Baltimore, but last year, which coincided with his contract expiring, was his best as he reached career highs in homers (44) and RBIs (102). And that was after he hit just .210 with eight homers and 29 RBIs for the first two-plus months of the season.

Maybe the friendly confines of Camden Yards will provide that necessary jolt. Following the Jays’ 4-3 extra-inning loss to the Red Sox on Thursday at Fenway Park, Santander is batting just .184 with zero homers and just two RBIs.

Still, he continues to hit third in the Jays’ batting order, going 1-for-5 on Thursday. He reached base on a single in his first at-bat. Then came three consecutive strikeouts followed by a groundout in the 10th inning that advanced Andres Gimenez to third base. Gimenez then scored on a George Springer sac fly.

Here are three takeaways from the series finale at Fenway Park where all four games had the feel of September baseball with the Jays (8-6) winning three of them. Toronto last swept a four-game series from Boston at Fenway Park in 1988.

The home side’s walk-off win was particularly entertaining, ending on a groundball that Gimenez could not field cleanly with the bases loaded.

NO HOUNDING BASSITT

Chris Bassitt recorded four strikeouts in his first trip through Boston’s order, pitched five shutout innings and, much like his pitching peers this series, gave the Jays all they could ask for.

What he needed was run support. The veteran right-hander was lifted after giving up his only run of the outing with two out in the sixth inning and the Bosox up 1-0.

Bassitt allowed five hits and a walk while striking out five and his ERA stands at 0.98 following three starts.

The Blue Jays continue to lack that thump factor from the top of their order, but the team’s starting pitching has been among the very best, if not the best, in baseball.

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COMBATIVE BO

Almost from the moment he arrived at spring training, there was something different about Bo Bichette. And it had nothing to do with his shorn locks.

Granted, the body of work this early in the season does not provide a sufficient sample size, but Bichette has the look of, and is playing like, the Bo of old. The shortstop, in his walk year contractually, is batting .291, albeit with zero homers, from the leadoff slot, after going 1-for-4 in the series finale.

Bichette led off the game with a Fenway Park single — a liner off the Green Monster.

After an infield pop-up in the third inning, Bichette lit up in the fifth following a dubious called third strike by plate umpire Manny Gonzalez with two out and Nathan Lukes in first. Bichette’s show of emotion after the call was a clear sign of his engagement, but of greater importance was the obvious sign of his competitive fire.

That fire was doused last season following a series of calf issues that never did heal.

A healthy Bichette is precisely what the doctor ordered for a Blue Jays team that needs his spirit.

REST FOR THE MEGA-RICH?

A cynic would argue that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was accorded what essentially amounted to a rest day because he must have been too fatigued when counting the $500 million US he’ll rake in once his 14-year franchise-altering contract kicks in next season.

The fact remains, though, that he wasn’t in the starting lineup for the series finale at Fenway, though he was available. After all, one would figure that the more at-bats for Guerrero, the greater the Jays’ chances.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider, however, was keen on giving his slugger an unofficial day off, which makes sense on some level, even though Vladdy was coming off his first three-hit game of the season.

Guerrero did enter the game on Thursday as a pinch-hitter in a 1-1 deadlock, runners at the corner with one out in the seventh inning. He hit a grounder up the middle, tailor-made for an inning-ending double play, but Boston recorded only a fielder’s choice, and the Jays took a 2-1 lead.

He did get a second at-bat in the ninth after Tyler Heineman led off with a single, his third hit of the game, but Vladdy flew out to centre.

UP NEXT

The Blue Jays play a scuffling Orioles team that returned home from Arizona on Thursday. Against the Diamondbacks, Baltimore lost the three-game series and took it on the chin in a 9-0 shellacking in Wednesday’s finale … Baltimore scored 22 combined runs in its four-game series split in Toronto … RHP Bowden Francis starts for Toronto in Friday night’s series opener.