The Kyle Schwarber game 😤 5-for-6 3 HR 6 RBI 4 R 15 TB
Blue Jays overpowered by a serious contender in blown-lead loss to Phillies
Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Sep 4, 2024, 07:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 4, 2024, 07:45 EDT
When Philadelphia Phillies’ designated hitter Kyle Schwarber lobbed a home run against the Blue Jays’ starting pitcher Chris Bassitt, Toronto was on the road to fulfill its destiny of missed opportunities again.
It wasn’t anything new. Such has been the Blue Jays’ season. When Bassitt gave up a double to shortstop Trea Turner, there didn’t seem to be a way back. Perhaps it was the most predictable outcome. The Phillies were at the top of the league while the Blue Jays hung around toward the bottom – there wasn’t much hope to begin with.
Yet, Toronto didn’t give up all that easily. When Philadelphia sent pitcher Tyler Phillips on the mound, the lineup came alive as each player took advantage of the rookie’s lack of experience. After four singles, one double, one RBI groundout, and two home runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Blue Jays had scored a whopping six runs in total.
The Canadian squad should have been set for the entire game with those runs and Bassitt on the mound. There was a possibility that the Blue Jays could claim the win with a lopsided result. However, this iteration of the Blue Jays was unreliable at best. And unfortunately, that volatility struck once more.
The Phillies slowly chipped away against Bassitt and made him work hard for every single out. By the top of the seventh inning, the Phillies had tacked three more runs. No lead is ever safe in baseball, but the Blue Jays made it more perilous for themselves by surrendering one and two runs here and there. Thankfully, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. understood his assignment perfectly and scored insurance runs when he belted a line drive to the left field. The score now stood at 8-4, and that was just enough for Toronto to get away with a win.
Sadly, the Blue Jays’ story so far hasn’t been a fairy tale. Rather, this has resembled a psychological horror in the best of times. That pattern wasn’t going to change anytime soon, nor was it going to turn into a miracle. When relievers Zach Pop and Erik Swanson came into the game later, they had practically served up the lead in a silver platter to Philadelphia by giving up three runs. Toronto only had a one-run lead with the score of 8-7. In order to secure a win, they needed the sharpest pitching performance at the end.
However, the state of Toronto’s bullpen was a hot mess, and nothing could change its identity at this point in the season. Relief pitcher Chad Green may have been one of the better pitchers, but that was far from the truth when he took the mound on Tuesday night. Philadelphia’s third baseman Edmundo Sosa singled, left fielder Kody Clemens doubled, and Kyle Schwarber clobbered a homer for the second time to give his team the lead.
With a score of 10-8 after Schwarber’s convincing home run, the Blue Jays were destined for a loss. There still was a chance for them to come back but that hope dwindled as Phillies’ closer Matt Strahm struck out second baseman Will Wagner and catcher Alejandro Kirk. Shortstop Leo Jiménez gave a silver lining when he homered against Strahm to make the score 10-9, but third baseman Ernie Clement’s pop-out sealed the tragedy.
Winning against the ever-so-powerful Phillies was a tall task for an underwhelming team like the Ble Jays from the start. Even when Toronto performed better a year or two ago, Philadelphia always touted their unbelievably explosive offence and posed threats to the Blue Jays. As a team that happily sacrificed their defensive production when signing players like Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, the Phillies were well on their way to proving their point to the league. In fact, they’ve already done a fair bit of their work by getting into the World Series stage in 2022 and defeating the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) a year ago.
Since then, Philadelphia hasn’t changed an ounce of its philosophy. The team kept its core and made complementary moves to round out the roster. It was certainly a gamble but that has since paid off as the team propelled itself to the top of the league with the second-best win-loss record. The Phillies have accomplished what the Blue Jays have dreamed of and are on their way to challenging the league in October.
Even when The City of Brotherly Love seemed to be losing the game on Tuesday, the air of trust and confidence never really faded in the dugout. The Phillies were always willing to believe in their ability to keep their opponents on their toes. You don’t simply make deep playoff runs out of nothing. That’s the point Philadelphia made when it eventually came out with a win at Rogers Centre.
Philadelphia showed what Toronto could achieve by going all in on their feels and building a strong, dependable core. This may not be the Blue Jays’ season, but they can certainly take notes on the Phillies’ success story and keep it in the back pocket.
In the meantime, it’s not the worst idea to plot a comeback against the current National League East division leader. There is still a chance for the Blue Jays to test the depth of their interleague rival to serve them a much-needed reality check. On to the next one to play some spoiler.