<p>That&#8217;s three losses in a row since the Blue Jays opened their series in Baltimore with an incredibly promising win.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Cleveland Guardians came into Toronto as the first of five teams they&#8217;ll face who aren&#8217;t in contention for a playoff spot. This is supposed to be the easy part of the calendar for the Blue Jays, but they dropped the opener in a listless 5-2 slog.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">When does the easy part of the easy part of the schedule start???</p>
<p>&mdash; Blue Jays Nation (@thejaysnation) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejaysnation/status/1695226418429661695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h2>Things worth mentioning&#8230;</h2>
<ul>
<li>Things started off well for the Blue Jays as George Springer hit his 16th home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning to make the score 1-0. The lead didn&#8217;t last long as Mississauga native Bo Naylor smashed a solo bomb in the top of the third. Cleveland pulled ahead in the fourth when Ramon Laureano hit a two-run homer.</li>
<li>Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a pretty good day at the plate. He hit a single in the fourth inning and got gunned out at home trying to score on a double from Matt Chapman. In the sixth inning, he hit a solo home run that shrunk Cleveland&#8217;s lead to 4-2.</li>
<li>The Blue Jays didn&#8217;t get anything going off of the Guardians&#8217; bullpen. In the final three innings, their only baserunner was Brandon Belt drawing a walk in the eight, but Vladdy grounded out immediately after.</li>
<li>On the pitching side, Chris Bassitt allowed four earned runs over five-and-two-thirds innings. He walked two and struck out five and got stung by the long ball. Erik Swanson and Bowden Francis worked clean frames while Jordan Hicks allowed a solo bomb to Andres Giminez.</li>
<li>Next up, Hyun Jin Ryu will take the mound against Logan Allen. Ryu dominated Cleveland over four near-perfect innings before leaving with an injury earlier this month while Allen took the loss in a 1-0 shutout win from Kevin Gausman when he faced the Blue Jays previously.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
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That's three losses in a row since the Blue Jays opened their series in Baltimore with an incredibly promising win.



The Cleveland Guardians came into Toronto as the first of five teams they'll face who aren't in contention for a playoff spot. This is supposed to be the easy part of the calendar for the Blue Jays, but they dropped the opener in a listless 5-2 slog.

https://twitter.com/thejaysnation/status/1695226418429661695?s=20
<h2>Things worth mentioning...</h2>
<ul>
 	<li>Things started off well for the Blue Jays as George Springer hit his 16th home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning to make the score 1-0. The lead didn't last long as Mississauga native Bo Naylor smashed a solo bomb in the top of the third. Cleveland pulled ahead in the fourth when Ramon Laureano hit a two-run homer.</li>
 	<li>Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a pretty good day at the plate. He hit a single in the fourth inning and got gunned out at home trying to score on a double from Matt Chapman. In the sixth inning, he hit a solo home run that shrunk Cleveland's lead to 4-2.</li>
 	<li>The Blue Jays didn't get anything going off of the Guardians' bullpen. In the final three innings, their only baserunner was Brandon Belt drawing a walk in the eight, but Vladdy grounded out immediately after.</li>
 	<li>On the pitching side, Chris Bassitt allowed four earned runs over five-and-two-thirds innings. He walked two and struck out five and got stung by the long ball. Erik Swanson and Bowden Francis worked clean frames while Jordan Hicks allowed a solo bomb to Andres Giminez.</li>
 	<li>Next up, Hyun Jin Ryu will take the mound against Logan Allen. Ryu dominated Cleveland over four near-perfect innings before leaving with an injury earlier this month while Allen took the loss in a 1-0 shutout win from Kevin Gausman when he faced the Blue Jays previously.</li>
</ul>

<hr />

<h2 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://gml-grp.com/C.ashx?btag=a_24038b_2065c_&amp;affid=7966&amp;siteid=24038&amp;adid=2065&amp;c=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Article Presented by Betano</a></h2>
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Blue Jays kick off the easy portion of their schedule with a 5-2 loss to Cleveland

Los Angeles Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel (18) celebrates after scoring the winning run on a double by right fielder Jorge Soler (12, not pictured) as Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman (23)walks off the field during the ninth inning at Angel Stadium.

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