The Toronto Blue Jays' new mantra just might be "one step forward, two steps back."
Let's start with the good that came from Tuesday's home contest against the Boston Red Sox.
Outfielder Kevin Pillar continues to thrive, as he raised his batting average to .314 by going 3-for-5 with a trio of doubles. He scored the game's opening run in a two-run first inning as it looked like the team had Red Sox starter Brian Johnson on the ropes. With Marcus Stroman on the home mound, an early two-run advantage appeared impenetrable.
In addition to Pillar's offense atop the order, Russell Martin finally hit a home run. Justin Smoak also hit a long ball as part of his multi-hit performance. The Blue Jays scored a total of seven runs against the Red Sox, and seven of the team's 12 hits went for extra bases, a huge step in the right direction for a team that had registered only 25 extra-base knocks in its previous 12 games.
Despite obvious gains, the Blue Jays couldn't stay astride the Red Sox. Stroman, a contact pitcher by nature, got slapped around for 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings. Of the 11 hits, however, only two went for extra bases, as Hanley Ramirez and Mitch Moreland each hit RBI doubles. That leaves nine singles the Red Sox strung together, many up the middle or otherwise perfectly placed and hit on a rope.
That said, Stroman also induced soft contact at his greatest percentage of the young season, and a 2.85 xFIP for the game suggests he was much better than the end result shows.
And just as the Blue Jays climbed back into the affair with Smoak's game-tying home run in the third inning, the wheels came off in the fifth. Stroman was chased and the Red Sox had a 6-3 lead.
And yet, it was surmountable. One bad pitch in the seventh inning from reliever Joe Smith to Mookie Betts and another Red Sox run scraped together in the top of the eighth put everything just out of reach. Toronto outfielder Ezequiel Carrera hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning after Steve Pearce drove in Martin. A line out from Devon Travis - now batting .098 on the season - ended the game, the rally, and the hopes of a dramatic come-from-behind finish.
Jose Bautista continues to raise eyebrows. While he walked twice - once intentionally - he struck out once and failed to get a hit. He's 3-for-25 on the current homestand, has not hit a home run all season, and has only driven in one run. Two doubles account for his only extra-base hits.
The blame cannot all be shouldered on third baseman Josh Donaldson's injury. This team was losing before he was hurt and it's losing after. Rumblings of a fire sale are both present and unsurprising with the rapidly advancing age of many players in the clubhouse.
The Blue Jays have the worst record in baseball at 2-11, are already 6 1/2 games out of first place in the AL East, and even trail the fourth-place Tampa Bay Rays by four games. At this point, there is no solace in the fact that nine of those 11 losses have come by two runs or fewer.
While reports of their demise may have seemed premature, every loss now represents a brand-new low.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)
