KANSAS CITY – With two outs in the fifth inning Tuesday night, Kevin Gausman located a splitter at the bottom of the strike zone to Kyle Isbel.
Isbel swung, hitting a weak ground ball to the left side, and Gausman seemed to be on his way to stranding Michael Massey at second base and preserving the Blue Jays’ 2-0 lead. Third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa ranged to his left before making an accurate throw to first base. And Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dropped the ball.
From the infield grass, Kiner-Falefa yelled in frustration. At third, Massey had slowed down, but he picked up speed again and scored as Guerrero Jr. chased after the ball. On the mound, Gausman let out a disappointed sigh.
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But the damage wasn’t done yet. Not only had the Royals scored, Guerrero Jr.’s mistake had extended the inning. Two pitches later, Maikel Garcia singled to centre. One pitch after that, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run double down the left field line. And so instead of being up 2-0, the Blue Jays were down 3-2, on their way to a painful and avoidable loss.
While Guerrero Jr. did stretch to reach the ball, he wasn’t at full extension on the play, which any manager would expect a first baseman to make every time. The error overshadowed a strong night of pitching for the Blue Jays, who fall to 13-11 with the loss.
Granted, it was Guerrero Jr.’s first error of the season, and the play might not stand out as much if the Blue Jays were hitting better, but none of that changes the facts of what happened. With their offence still struggling, the Blue Jays are likely to play many close games, and they must respond by playing appropriately tight defence. On Tuesday, Guerrero Jr. wasn’t up to that task.
Aside from those unearned runs in the fifth, Gausman was effective, pitching 6.2 effective innings while walking one and striking out two. Later, Nate Pearson and Tim Mayza would keep the game within one, but the Blue Jays couldn’t rally.
Adding to the frustration, Guerrero Jr. was hitless in five trips to the plate with two strikeouts and a double play. Speaking before the game, manager John Schneider said he sees positive signs from the 25-year-old at the plate.
“Most of his at-bats have been good,” Schneider said. “The last handful of days, maybe the swings have gotten a little bit big on pitches that he can really hammer.”
“But Vlad’s always right there. He’s probably one of the most dangerous guys in the league.”
If the rest of the Blue Jays’ lineup were hitting, there might be less attention on Guerrero Jr., who still has a 110 wRC+ after Tuesday’s hitless night. But this is a lineup that hasn’t scored more than five runs in a game in two and a half weeks, intensifying the spotlight on the offence.
“You know, people can look at his numbers and be as hard as they want on him. But the quality of his at-bats have been good,” said Schneider.
The same couldn’t be said for Guerrero Jr.’s defence Tuesday, and the Blue Jays lost a winnable game as a result.
