John Schneider’s questionable Ernie Clement bunt attempt left Blue Jays fans flustered

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider has certainly gotten a lot better at making in-game decisions in recent years after enduring some backlash during his first season with the team. However, Schneider somehow made a shocking questionable call with the game on the line on Saturday (Jun. 13) that left many Blue Jays flustered.

With the game tied at one in the eighth inning of a close ballgame against their division rivals the New York Yankees, Toronto managed to put two runners on base with nobody out after back-to-back walks were issued to both Kazuma Okamoto and Jesús Sánchez. Yankees pitcher Fernando Cruz clearly didn’t have it with his control and command of his pitchers while a red-hot hitting Ernie Clement came to the plate for the Blue Jays.

But instead of letting Clement take full advantage of a struggling Cruz by swinging away, Schneider had the Jays infielder attempt to lay down a bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Perhaps the Blue Jays manager was thinking back to just about one year ago when Clement laid down a perfect bunt for his first ever sacrifice bunt in helping Toronto defeat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 in early July.

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Nevertheless, for someone that hasn’t really done it frequently throughout his MLB career, it was sure a big gamble that was being made by Schneider. That gamble completely backfired when Clement promptly popped out to Yankees first baseman Ben Rice on the very first pitch from Cruz. New York would ultimately get out of the inning unscathed despite their 36-year-old veteran reliever struggling in getting through it all.

When Schneider was asked about the questionable play, he had this to say, according to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic.

“Ern (Clement) is good at it. Obviously like the way Vale (Brandon Valenzuela) is swinging the bat. You obviously want to put pressure on Cruz to throw strikes …. So you want to try to force the issue there and get a guy up who’s been swinging the bat well," Schneider explained.

One has to remember that Valenzulea wasn’t the only hitter seeing the ball well for Toronto as Clement has been one of the Blue Jays best hitters in recent weeks as well. In fact, the 30-year-old Jays infielder had compiled a stellar .344 average, .857 OPS, along with 12 runs scored, two home runs and eight RBIs in his last 15 games played. Not to mention also that he had been mashing Yankees’ pitching so far this season, hitting above .400 with an OPS over 1.200 in over 21 at-bats against New York prior to Sunday.

Some could argue that Jays reliever Louie Varland still ended up yielding runs in the ninth inning to the Yankees, leading to their eventual 3-1 loss. But had Clement come through hitting in that very situation, the Blue Jays could have been leading heading into the final frame. For any closer, pitching with the lead versus pitching with the game tied is a totally different mindset, especially if the lead is of the multi-run variety.

As a result, in a matchup that the Blue Jays had the prime chance to pull out a victory during the late stages of the game on Saturday, a potential game-changing call from Schneider has ended up costing the Jays a significant two-game swing in the standings.

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