Three Key Things: Blue Jays end losing streak in rain-shortened series with Boston

A postponement due to rain kept this series at only two games, but that doesn’t mean there was any shortage of excitement.

The Blue Jays watched their losing streak reach seven games after Monday night’s game, but they were able to put an end to it on Tuesday night to avoid the franchise’s longest losing streak since 2009. Here are my Three Key Things to how this week went down.

You’ve heard the clichés such as “They all count as one” and “The good thing about this game is that there’s always tomorrow“.  That doesn’t mean that some of them don’t sting more than others, though.

Monday night’s loss included a major peak and a major valley. The peak was Chris Bassitt tossing a really good game and a Blue Jays’ five-run 7th inning that was highlighted by a 471-foot home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. In Bassitt’s case, he finished the night going seven innings, allowing five hits, two runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. Save for a Rafael Devers home run, Bassitt was in complete control and finished off the seventh inning escaping a two on, one out jam.

The footage on Guerrero Jr.’s home run speaks for itself, honestly. It was the longest home run of his career, as well as the third-longest home run at Fenway Park in the Statcast era. Yeah, someone across the street got a souvenir. Not only was it a massive home run, though. It put the Jays up 6-2. It felt like the frustrations from the losing streak were let out on one swing. While it didn’t fix the season, it still gave a sense of “Take that.” A team built around run prevention just had the offensive highlight of the night for the whole league.

The highs of that moment were dashed within the next couple of innings, however. In the 8th inning, a misplay on a routine popup to third base by Addison Barger was immediately cashed in with a two-run home run by David Hamilton, making it a 6-4 ball game. With two outs in the frame, Tim Mayza was tasked with retiring Devers, but the Red Sox third baseman flared a single into centre field. That presented an unfavorable matchup between Tyler O’Neill, which resulted in a fly ball to centre that deflected off Kevin Kiermaier’s glove, putting runners on second and third. The one-thing-after-another trend continued, as Romy González tied the game with a two-run single right after that.

A walk-off RBI single from Jarren Duran in the 9th inning ended the game, and there is your valley.

The Blue Jays have problems, but Vladdy ain’t one of them.

Fans have been yearning for Guerrero Jr. to replicate the production that he exhibited in 2021, and I think it’s safe to say that what we’re seeing now is as close as it’s gotten. Looking at this series specifically, Guerrero Jr. went 5-for-9 with a home run, three doubles, and seven RBIs. On a broader scale, Guerrero Jr. is slashing .349/.364/.628 with a .992 OPS, three homers, three doubles, and ten RBIs since June 15th. Watching him couple lifting the ball in the air with hitting the ball hard is a critical key to his success, and it will only increase his already great production.

Guerrero Jr. also continued his success against both starting pitchers that he faced in this series. His updated career numbers versus Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello are as follows:

Houck – 5-for-15, 2 2B, 3 RBIs

Bello – 8-for-19, 2 HR, 3 2B, 8 RBIs

We know how much of a focal point run prevention has been for this franchise over the past two seasons. If the offense isn’t going to spearhead victories, the defense needs to do that. To say the least, the defense wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be in this series.

I’ve already mentioned Barger’s misplay at third and Kiermaier’s muffed catch in centre field from Monday. Although not scored as errors, those are both plays that (even they would admit) need to be made. Prior to Duran’s walk-off hit on Monday, Spencer Horwitz cleanly fielded a ground ball from Cedanne Rafaela, but he juggled the transfer to his throwing hand, giving the speedy Rafaela enough time to reach first base. Zach Pop’s balk moved Rafaela to second, and that set the table for Duran.

On Tuesday night, Guerrero Jr. committed multiple errors in the field, although his first one may have some shared fault with George Springer. As soon as O’Neill hit a ball was hit in the air towards shallow right, Guerrero Jr. began to back peddle into right field, so much so that he arguably entered Springer’s area. Guerrero Jr. muffed the catch, O’Neill ultimately reached third, and he would score on a Masataka Yoshida double one batter later. Springer would admit after the game that he should’ve called Guerrero off, but it costed Toronto a run nonetheless.

Boston’s defense wasn’t very good either, and it definitely helped Toronto score a few runs here and there. The point still stands, though. If Toronto is going to continue to play in games with slim margins, they can’t afford to make as many errors in the field as they did this week.