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Instant Reaction: Blue Jays collapse at Wrigley Field in 16-2 loss to Cubs
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Photo credit: © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images
Tristan Morgan
Jun 20, 2026, 07:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 19, 2026, 21:24 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays found new and creative ways to lose on Friday, and the Chicago Cubs were happy to oblige in the series opener at Wrigley Field.
In the series opener against the Cubs, the Blue Jays allowed a season-high 16 runs and 18 hits in a demoralizing 16-2 loss. The Cubs’ lineup bled runs out of Toronto’s pitching staff from the first pitch onward.
Kevin Gausman did not have it on Friday afternoon. The Blue Jays’ ace needed 44 pitches to get through a first inning that produced seven earned runs, four walks and a grand slam off the bat of Carson Kelly. There were a lot of uncompetitive pitches in what was the worst first inning of his career, and Gausman didn’t make it an out beyond the second inning, departing the game in his shortest outing since April of 2024.
It’s also the most earned runs he’s allowed in any start this season. Aces have off nights, but this was about as uncharacteristic as it gets for Gausman in an otherwise successful 2026 season to this point. 
Adding to the misery of the afternoon, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. exited in the middle of the sixth inning after an awkward swing in his previous at-bat, replaced by Charles McAdoo, who hadn’t appeared in a game since last Sunday. It appears to be the same back issue that has nagged the 27-year-old all month, which resulted in three games off from June 13-15.
If there’s a silver lining to this one, it’s George Springer’s play. He stayed red hot, blasting a home run in the sixth inning, his third in the last eight games to go along with three stolen bases, seven RBI and seven walks. Springer is carrying a 1.241 OPS over that stretch, and he’s doing exactly the type of stuff that made him one of the most valuable bats in the American League just a year ago.
The stability Springer is bringing to the top of the order right now gives a great base for the rest of the offence to work off of, but its still to be seen if it can click all at the same time.
Brendon Little was recalled from Triple-A earlier in the day, with Chad Dallas optioned in the corresponding move. Little had carried a brutal 24.55 ERA when he was sent down in early April, but he posted a respectable 2.31 ERA over 23.1 innings in Buffalo. However,  the underlying numbers that haunted him in the big leagues throughout March kept following closely.
Little in Buffalo carried a 1.46 WHIP with an alarming 12.5% walk rate, still struggling to find the zone and throwing strikes only 59.1% of the time. Plus, when he was getting hit, he was getting hit hard, posting a .395 xWOBA paired with a 53.3% hard hit rate. This afternoon looked a lot like the same. Little worked just one and one-third innings, allowing four earned runs on two hits and three walks with only one strikeout. 
The strangest sight of the day came from Myles Straw, who was given mop-up duty, not in the outfield, but on the mound, making his MLB pitching debut. Toronto had burned through six arms over 7.2 innings before him so he had work to do. Straw threw one and one-third scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk, which is pretty impressive when you realize Straw was throwing as hard as your local 10U team.
Outside of Gausman and Little, the rest of the pitching staff deserves some credit, Straw included, as they didn’t allow an earned run across four innings of work during the bloodbath.
However, the defence didn’t help. Toronto committed two errors and had a couple of uncredited misplays in the outfield from Jesús Sánchez that contributed to an afternoon that just kept snowballing. In the grand scheme of a 16-2 final, those extra outs probably didn’t change the outcome, but with the pitching staff and bullpen as taxed as they are, those are margins the Blue Jays can’t keep giving away as the season approaches July.
The Blue Jays drop to 37-39, two games below .500, and they’ll need to move on from Friday afternoon’s game quickly. Patrick Corbin will be counted on to work deeper than usual in tomorrow’s start, given how taxed the bullpen is after Friday’s seven-man pitching marathon. Toronto will need two in a row at Wrigley Field to win the series and climb to .500, but the scars from this one will still be fresh as they battle.
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