Guerrero-less Blue Jays score first and fast en route to easy win in Pittsburgh

Article content

Considering the Blue Jays won a combined 74 games in 2024 that landed them dead last in the AL East, it is quite stunning to fast forward to this year.

Following a rather ho-hum 7-3 win over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, the Jays matched last year’s total with many more victories on the horizon, especially in the short term based on the quality of Toronto’s opposition.

The worst-to-first ascension is very much in play with the Jays’ schedule now reduced to 35 games, which, admittedly, can be an eternity in baseball.

Tuesday’s win also improved Toronto’s road record to 32-32.

While far from playing a clean game, the 74-53 Jays weren’t as sloppy as they were in Monday’s late-game meltdown.

They were opportunistic right from the start and never threatened.

The following are three takeaways from a Jays win in which Myles Straw, starting in centre-field, was again front and centre, leaping into the wall to snare a fly ball by Simon to end the fifth, then robbing Andrew McCutchen of extra bases in the sixth with a diving catch in right-centre. Straw also scored a run following a hustle double, walked once and stole two bases.

1. Sure-thing Scherzer

Max Scherzer keenly watched Paul Skenes, one of the great young starters in the majors, pitch a gem against his Jays on Monday.

On Tuesday, it was Scherzer’s turn and, and while he wasn’t Mad Max, the right-hander looked every bit like the new staff ace, delivering his fifth consecutive quality start.

The 41-year-of future Hall of Famer went six innings, allowing only one run on four hits, though he did walk three to go with four strikeouts. Also of note, he did not give up a home run after being taken deep at least once in each of his previous six starts.

When he took to the mound to begin his outing, Scherzer already had a 3-0 lead and needed just three pitches to strike out Pirates leadoff man, Ronny Simon.

It was 5-0 when Scherzer began the second inning, but he quickly loaded the bases with two walks and an infield single. The damage, however, was limited to one run — on an RBI ground-out by one-time Blue Jay Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

By the time he was done, striking out Jack Suwinski to end the sixth with his 104th pitch of the night, Scherzer had topped the century mark for the first time in almost two years.

In four August starts, he has now allowed just five earned runs in 25 innings, holding opposition batters to a .215 batting average.

Inflamed hammy

A collective sigh of relief could be felt early Tuesday when an MRI on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s left hamstring revealed nothing more than inflammation. The diagnosis does represent a best-case scenario given that soft-tissue issues can linger.

He’s considered day-to-day, which provides absolutely zero clarity, though he is not expected to be in the lineup again on Wednesday’s early afternoon series finale against the Pirates.

Say what you want about Vladdy, but no one can ever say he’s not a gamer. His passion is baseball and he wants to be in every game. So, following Thursday’s off-day, he’ll be eager to be back in the lineup on Friday in Miami when former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber is projected to make his debut for the Blue Jays against the Marlins.

Without Guerrero in Tuesday’s starting lineup, the Jays had Bo Bichette in the No. 3 hole.

For the fourth game in a row since his return from a concussion injury, George Springer hit leadoff and had a productive game. He was hit by a Mitch Keller pitch to begin the game, then promptly stole his 13th base of the season.

In his second at-bat, Springer belted a two-run homer, his 20th of the season to eclipse last year’s total.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Kirk drove in three with a first-inning single and a two-run homer in the seventh while Nathan Lukes singled home two in the first-inning to give the Jays a 3-0 lead.

Pham sham

The phrase ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’ immediately comes to mind when dissecting the actual on-field incident on Monday involving Tommy Pham, the subsequent social media nonsense and the equally nonsensical reaction by the media bent on feeding the beast.

No one bothered to mention in the aftermath of the Jays’ 5-2 loss to the Pirates that Toronto had dropped to 10-11 in its past 21 games and no one seemed to pay any attention that Guerrero had to leave the game with his hamstring injury.

It was all about Pham, which amounted to a big-fat-nothing burger.

By the way, he wasn’t in the starting lineup on Tuesday.

Against Scherzer, Pham, who isn’t an every-day player to begin with, is just 3-for-26.

While the journeyman is a noted hot-head, the media completely lost its head in its over-reaction and over-blown coverage. So sad, and yet so typical of today’s deteriorating clickbait landscape, which is only getting worse by the minute.

Up next

RHP Chris Bassitt is looking to buck a trend that has seen the Jays go 3-8 when hen starts on the road. In his past two away outings, Bassitt has pitched a combined 7.0 innings, while giving up four homers and nine earned runs … Pittsburgh plans on recalling RHP Johan Oviedo from triple-A Indianapolis to start Wednesday’s series finale (12:35 p.m. first pitch). He started earlier this month against the San Francisco Giants and lasted all of one inning.