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Jays' Schneider: Vladdy's baserunning gaffe was 'inexcusable'

Steve Russell / Toronto Star / Getty

Toronto Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider wasn't pleased with his stars following Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the New York Yankees.

A lackluster loss to the Jays' division rivals featured a pair of notable baserunning blunders from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in the sixth inning. Guerrero drew the ire of his skipper for not running hard out of the box on his two-out RBI single before being thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. It was the last scoring chance Toronto would have on the evening.

"Vladdy flat-out needs to run harder," Schneider said postgame, according to Sportsnet. "That's inexcusable. I'll tell him that when I see him later tonight. We're at the point where every little thing matters, every 90 feet matters, (and) it should matter every day of the season.

"He's still young, he'll be fine ... but you've got to leave no margin for error," Schneider added, according to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.

One batter before Guerrero's miscue, Bichette had a gaffe of his own on the bases. After lacing what appeared to be a double that would have put runners at second and third with one out, Bichette's foot lingered off the bag as he popped up out of his slide. Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa held the tag to record the out, which officials upheld after a Blue Jays challenge.

Schneider acknowledged the Bichette play was "weird" but still thinks his shortstop could have had a bit more awareness in the moment.

"You gotta just be a little bit more careful if you're Bo," Schneider said. "You see it sometimes, and it's just a weird thing with replay, and you gotta just be a little bit more attentive to what you're doing."

Despite the loss, the Blue Jays' magic number to clinch a playoff berth dropped to two thanks to the Baltimore Orioles' loss at Boston. They remain 1 1/2 games up on the Tampa Bay Rays for the top wild-card spot and would host Tampa Bay at Rogers Centre in a best-of-three wild-card series if the season ended today.

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