First place in AL East is new Blue Jays target even after falling flat in series finale against D'Backs
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There are any number of motivational checkpoints in a 162-game season to help contending teams ride the inevitable swings of the odyssey, both high and low.
When three-plus weeks of solid baseball allows you to wake up in late June just two games out of the division lead, that would be one of them.
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First place in AL East is new Blue Jays target even after falling flat in series finale against D'Backs Back to video
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That was the position the Blue Jays found themselves in prior to a flat Thursday matinee against the Arizona Diamondbacks that resulted in a mostly lopsided and deflating 9-5 loss.
Sure, it wasn’t pretty, but at least the home side took the three-game series 2-1, cooling a team that had arrived on a five-game heater.
Baseball players are generally better equipped at riding out highs and lows than other sports — in part in the name of retaining some sanity, given the length of the season. So dropping a game against the D’Backs shouldn’t destroy momentum, especially with the opportunity presented by a three-game weekend series against the Chicago White Sox, the worst team in the American League, right around the corner.
With the New York Yankees defeating the Angels on Thursday, the Jays slipped to three games in arrears of the division leaders. But with a big four-game home series against the Yankees starting on June 30, for the first time in 2025 the prospect of chasing the division lead has a whiff of believability.
“There is so much season left but, yeah, you look up and want so see where you envision yourself,” manager John Schneider said prior to Thursday’s lopsided affair played out before 33,978 at the open-roofed Rogers Centre. “There’s the wild card, and that’s great, but the goal every year is to try to win the division. A lot (of season) to go but nice to look up and say we’re playing well and where we are in terms of games back.”
The unsightliness of Thursday aside, the Jays have still won 14 of their past 20 games and, with an overall record of 40-34, have distanced themselves from that annoying dalliance with .500 that consumed the first two months of the season.
“I remember at the start of the month when I said you kind of want to put your best foot forward before you get into July and the dog days and the trade deadline and all that stuff,” Schneider said. “I think it’s nice that we have done that, and it kind of keeps the carrot at the end of the stick, right there, even though it’s a long way to go.”
The Jays couldn’t get much of anything going on Thursday, the offence reduced to just two hits through the first seven innings, both of them Alejandro Kirk home runs. An eighth inning mini-rally — started by a Jonatan Clase homer — added three to bring the final score closer to respectability.
NO GAS FOR GAUS?
It’s not a stretch to suggest that if the Jays are going to make a meaningful push for a division title, they’re going to need stout starting pitching in general and a strong Kevin Gausman specifically.
On Thursday, they got a dull one from the veteran right-hander who was chased after 4.1 innings as the D’Backs rocked him for seven hits (two of them homers), four walks and seven earned runs.
As an outlier, that kind of outing happens. But in three of his past four starts now, Gausman has pitched five innings or fewer and seen his ERA climb to 4.60. And he’s none too pleased about his own efforts, as he vented post-game.
“To be honest, I feel like everybody kind of did their job this series, and I just didn’t,” a clearly irked Gausman said. “We’re playing really good right now and going for a sweep today and I go out there and do that … so I’m pretty frustrated.
“I need to take a deep look and try to figure some things out and get better. If I can kind of get back to who I am, I think that’s the next step for this team and I hope to be a big part of it. I feel like I’m not kind of doing my end.”
TO THE MAX?
The more wear and tear that piles up on the Jays starters — not to mention the holes in the rotation that have needed patching for too long now — the more the urgency heightens for a Max Scherzer return to action.
Schneider said that following Scherzer’s excellent 75-pitch, eight-strikeout effort for the Buffalo Bisons on Wednesday, the righty will throw a bullpen session here, likely on Saturday.
“Just like everything we’ve said with Max, it’s kind of just a day at a time,” Schneider said. “If that goes well, we’ll see if he needs another (rehab start) or if he’s good to go.”
If it’s the latter, that could set up a start on Tuesday in Cleveland against the Guardians.
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