Blue Jays still have plenty of reasons for optimism this season

The Blue Jays 2021 season reached a low ebb on Friday night. On Saturday, they showed why there is no cause for panic

This was supposed to be the year for the Toronto Blue Jays. Coming off a postseason berth, the signing of the best free-agent hitter on the market, and a young, blossoming lineup, there was a sense of optimism in the air around the Blue Jays.

The hope that was so prevalent at the start of the season began to look like a squandered opportunity on Friday night at Fenway Park. The bullpen, ravaged by injuries, is a mess. The Blue Jays built a 5-1 lead over the Boston Red Sox before watching it disappear. Tyler Chatwood couldn’t find the strike zone, Carl Edwards Jr. gave up the game-tying home run, and, to cap off the night, Rafael Dolis surrendered the walk-off single off the Green Monster to Alex Verdugo in the ninth inning.

The Blue Jays, who began the season 23-17 and were a half-game out of first place on May 18, fell to just 8-13 after Friday’s loss, the third-worst record in the American League over that span. Since May 20, when the Red Sox scored three times in the ninth to win 8-7, the Blue Jays bullpen entered Saturday afternoon’s game with the fifth-worst ERA in the Majors at 5.51. They’ve already lost seven games this season in which the winning run scored in the eighth inning or later, including a run of four straight in May.

“I tell you, the name of the game is pitching to win in the American League East and in baseball,” manager Charlie Montoyo said after the 6-5 loss on Friday. “The bullpen’s got to do the job. Somebody’s got to pick up the slack.”

The Blue Jays are frustrated and in desperate need of a cure for their current ailment. But, despite everything that has gone wrong for the club over the last three weeks, there is still plenty to like about this lineup and reason to believe better days are on the horizon. They showed why on Saturday.

Vlad Jr. leading the way with MLB-calibre season

It started, as usual, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit his MLB-leading 20th home run over the Green Monster in the first inning of a Blue Jays 7-2 win. Guerrero came into the game leading the Majors in home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and times on base. At 22, he’s become a complete hitter, with power to all parts of the field, patience to wait for the right pitch, and the ability to catch up to fastballs and hammer breaking balls.

Guerrero had a terrific April that showed he was finally becoming the hitter he was forecasted to be when he broke into the big leagues. He was pretty good in May. So far in June, he’s been incredible. He’s batting .424 with four home runs, 10 RBI, and an on-base percentage of .537 since the calendar changed. Despite the loss on Friday, Guerrero had three hits, all of them coming off his bat with an exit velocity of at least 110 mph. He now leads the league in that category with 28 and became only the second player this season with three such hits in a game, along with Tampa’s Randy Arozarena.

In the sixth inning, facing Red Sox reliever Hirokazu Sawamura, Guerrero swung and missed at a 96 mph fastball to go down 0-2 in the count. Sawamura decided to challenge him again with another fastball. This time, Guerrero hit it 443 feet.

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“Impressive. That’s the word I could use,” Montoyo said. “So the guy threw one by him and he figured, I’m going to throw him another one. And he got to it. That’s not easy to do.”

Besides Guerrero lies the impending return of George Springer, the Blue Jays’ $150 million free-agent signing who’s played all of four games this season, none since May 2. Springer has been running the bases and is nearing a minor league rehab assignment as he works his way back from a quad strain.

The lineup is young, with the lowest average age in the Majors. Bo Bichette hit the longest home run of his big-league career on Saturday and has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games. Cavan Biggio returned to the lineup after missing 18 games and went 3-4 with a homer. Marcus Semien, playing on a one-year deal, has boosted his potential payday considerably and is currently on a 25-game road hitting streak, the longest in Blue Jays history.

Injuries continue to be a problem. Both catchers who started the season on the roster, Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk, are on the IL. So is Julian Merryweather, who looked so dominant in the closing role earlier in the season. Jordan Romano wasn’t available out of the bullpen on Friday because of a forearm strain.

But into that void in the pitching staff has stepped rookie Alek Manoah, who hasn’t looked out of the place in three starts despite not pitching above Single-A before this season. Nate Pearson, who struggled with his command in his only appearance this year, threw five shutout innings for Buffalo on Thursday. Steven Matz gave up just one run over 5.2 innings on Saturday to pick up his seventh win of the season.

The Blue Jays have also yet to play a game against the Baltimore Orioles. They still have 19 games remaining against the AL East bottom-feeders after going 8-2 against them in 2020.

Their season hit a low ebb on Friday night but there is nowhere to go but up from here, and there are encouraging signs that’s just where this young club is headed.