It鈥檚 September. Hold your breath.
The Blue Jays, who trailed from the second inning on, got up off the mat and took the lead in the ninth inning in Cincinnati in their first game of the month on Monday. But the bullpen struck again, and the massive final-frame comeback was wasted in a 5-4 loss to the Reds at Great American Ballpark.
It’s not going to be like this all month, but it was a fitting start to a September that will make or break the Jays’ chances despite having been in control of the American League East since early July.
A win by the Boston Red Sox聽鈥 with a nose-thumbing, five-pitch ninth inning from their closer, Aroldis Chapman 鈥 moved them into a tie with the idle New York Yankees for second in the division, just 2 1/2 games behind the Jays. It’s only the second time since the all-star break that the lead has been smaller than three games.
The Blue Jays are getting set for a three-game series against the MLB’s best Milwaukee Brewers,
Jays hitters were stifled by Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene. The right-hander hit triple digits on the radar gun 27 times and held the Jays to three hits (two by Bo Bichette) over the first six innings while protecting a 2-0 lead.
Bichette doubled with one out in the seventh, though, and Greene started to wilt, walking Daulton Varsho and giving up an RBI single to Alejandro Kirk before exiting. But the Jays were still down by a run when Reds closer Emilio Pagan came in to work the ninth inning.
They say that in September your stars have to be your stars. In that top of the ninth, they were.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had one hit in his last 21 at-bats, led off with a swinging bunt single to third. Then, to show just how important these games are from here on out, Jays manager John Schneider made a move that he hadn’t all season: Myles Straw came in to pinch-run. It was the first time this year that Guerrero had been removed from a game other than for injury or rest in a blowout.
Turned out the move was unnecessary because Bichette smacked his fourth hit of the game, a towering home run to centre that gave the Jays their first lead of the day. Varsho followed with another long ball and it was 4-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.
With closer Jeff Hoffman and set-up men Seranthony Dom铆nguez and Louis Varland unavailable because of recent workloads, and Yariel Rodr铆guez having thrown the seventh and eighth in his best outing in a month, the call went to Tommy Nance to try to close it out in the ninth.
Nance, 34, had never recorded a save in the major leagues, but carried a 0.82 ERA into the game in 19 appearances. He also pitched out of a huge bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning of Sunday’s 8-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers with the Jays holding a one-run lead at the time.
The ninth inning is a different animal, though, and Nance allowed two singles around a pop-up, putting the tying runners aboard. Brendon Little was next. Two batters later, the game was over. Astonishingly, given how many nightmares he has given the fan base lately, it was only Little’s third blown save of the season and first in more than four months.
Not a great start to the final month, but it wasn’t like the bullpen issues were going to magically disappear as the calendar turned, even after Sunday’s five shutout innings from five relievers.
The problem is that there’s nowhere to turn. These are the pitchers they have, and they have to be the ones to figure things out.
Rookies Braydon Fisher and Mason Fluharty and the newly reacquired Ryan Borucki might get switched in over the next few weeks to help, but none of them are likely to close out games.
“This is the big leagues, man. This is no joke,” Schneider told reporters in Cincinnati after the game. “They’ve got to be ready to answer the bell again tomorrow.”
And they’ve got to do it with the teams in their rear-view mirror drawing ever closer.
The Red Sox have been red-hot with a 35-18 record since Canada Day that’s the best in the American League. The Jays will get one more crack at them, having beaten Boston in seven of 10 meetings so far, to open the final homestand of the regular season.
The Yankees have also woken up, with 12 wins in their last 16 games after a 12-18 run through July and early August. The Jays will play three games in the Bronx starting Friday night.
With an eight-game bulge for at least a wild-card spot after Monday’s loss, the Jays鈥 outlook for the post-season is relatively secure. But the division certainly is not.
That, especially with this shaky bullpen, is going to make September a nail-biting watch.
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