ARLINGTON, Texas – The front end of this season-defining stretch couldn’t have gone much better for the Toronto Blue Jays and now the challenge really ramps up with a crucial eight-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles.
A bullpen game in Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Texas Rangers, capping an 8-2 road trip that solidified their hold on a wild-card spot, was all about optimizing for the looming clash with the Rays.
Jose Berrios would have been on turn for the Globe Life Field finale before a crowd of 20,984 but facing five games in four days against their arch-rivals, the Blue Jays opted to line up their top four arms for the occasion. Berrios gets the opener, followed by Alek Manoah and likely Mitch White in Tuesday’s day-night twin bill, with Ross Stripling and Kevin Gausman getting the final two games.
The Blue Jays have another hole to fill for Friday’s series opener against the Orioles, and without a viable option at triple-A another bullpen game is a possibility, with Berrios and Manoah to follow.
Time to let it ride.
“It was a great road trip,” said interim manager John Schneider. “Guys are really competing and playing well overall. I really like where we are as a group and looking forward to an exciting week at home.”
The standings remain tight going in, with the Seattle Mariners (79-61), Rays (78-60) and Blue Jays (78-61) all within a half game of one another for the three wild-card spots. The Orioles (73-67) are 5.5 games off the pace and at risk of falling out of the mix.
“Really our season is in this next two weeks with how many head-to-head games we have against the Rays and the Orioles. That’s going to be telling right there,” said Stripling. “We’ve done well as of late of playing in the moment, understanding you’ve got to take care of the Pirates, you’ve got to take care of the Rangers, beatable teams. Don’t look ahead to the Rays. Kind of did that maybe in the last game against the Cubs at Rogers Centre (a 7-5 loss Aug. 31), let that game get away, maybe looking ahead at a winnable series. But for the most part I feel like we’ve really stayed in the moment.”
A three-game sweep of the Pirates, three of four in Baltimore and two of three against the Rangers speaks to that. The Blue Jays had their chances against Martin Perez to secure one more W but couldn’t fight off both the lefty and home-plate umpire Rob Drake’s rather liberal interpretation of the strike zone deep in the heart of Texas.
Questionable calls against Matt Chapman, caught looking at 3-2 and Whit Merrifield, buried 1-2 by two sketch strikes, helped snuff out a two-on, none-out rally in the second, for instance, while Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Alejandro Kirk all ended up looking to the heavens at different points.
Any hitter to walk in this one really earned it.
“We were trying to get Perez out over the plate and he did a good job of pounding it in there. I’m sure Jonah Heim got high praise from (Rangers catching coach) Bobby Wilson on his receiving,” Schneider said in deftly diplomatic fashion. “I was impressed the guys stuck to their approach and their game plan and kept their cool and I think that’s the sign of a really good team that is kind of growing up, too.”
Just as he did a week ago against the Pirates, Trevor Richards started this one but couldn’t escape the first inning, giving up a Nathaniel Lowe RBI double and leaving the bases loaded for David Phelps, who cleverly limited the damage.
Phelps followed with two outs in the second before handing the reins over to Yusei Kikuchi, who got Corey Seager to end that frame before surrendering a two-run shot in the third to Adolis Garcia. The lefty got two more outs in the fourth but also left the bases loaded for Zach Pop, who struck out Garcia and then followed with a three-up, three-down fifth.
Julian Merryweather then threw two scoreless frames before Anthony Bass handled the eighth, giving up a solo shot to Leody Tavares.
All told, it was a solid collective effort.
“We gave our team a chance,” said Phelps. “The goal is to put up zeros, but we’ve seen what our offence can do. Even in that ninth inning there, we were a couple of swings away. I think it’s speaks to the resiliency of our club that when we’re having a bullpen day, it’s one guy after another picking each other up. We’ve talked about that for I feel like the last three or four months now, that it’s going to take 26, now 28 guys to fight for each other, lifting each other up to get where we want to go.”
Using six relievers ahead of five games in four days isn’t optimal, but part of the Blue Jays’ calculus is that Berrios, Manoah, Gausman and Stripling are reliable enough to expect six innings from, allowing them to spread the bullpen innings around. Tuesday’s doubleheader will challenge that, but that’s the situation forced upon them by their lack of rotation depth and it’s meant a heavier toll on their core four starters.
“We’ve tried to strategically get guys an extra day here or there and rotate that through the four main guys,” said Schneider. “You power through and all the games are big, especially when you get home and it’s a doubleheader mixed in there against Tampa. Hopefully we get through that and we can line up who we want with the proper rest. That’s kind of the plan right now.”
The Blue Jays are 4-6 thus far against the Rays and 6-7 against the Orioles and beyond keeping pace in the standings, tiebreaker advantages will be at stake, too. Beyond the coming week another four games in Tampa Bay loom while another three games against the division-leading New York Yankees remain and though unlikely, a run at the AL East isn’t out of the question.
“The next two series are going to be key for us,” said Teoscar Hernandez, who returned from paternity leave with two hits, including an RBI double, and a walk. “That’s going to determine if we’re going to be fighting for a playoff spot or if we’re going to be in a spot that we say, OK, we just have to play hard and try to stay in the spot we’re in.”
Still, coming on the heels of a three-city, 10-game road trip, eight games in seven days against fellow contenders will be a grind. The Blue Jays, after a 6-1 road trip to New York and Boston in late August, returned home and played one of their worst series of the season, a three-game sweep by the Los Angeles Angels.
They’ll dive into the clash with the Rays after a cross-continent flight.
“Everybody in the major leagues is tired right now,” said Chapman. “What really separates guys is how mentally tough you can be. We have high expectations but you don’t go out there and try to force yourself on the game. You let it come to you. Stay in the moment. Control what you can control and trick yourself into finding ways to get the job done.”
Added Phelps: “Every man in the clubhouse knows what this team can do. At the end of the day, we have spent the entire season in a playoff spot. We know what we’re capable of. We know what we want to do. If we can keep winning series, we’re in a really good spot.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
