Blue Jays @ Padres – Summary of 3-game set in San Diego

Outfield defence leads the way for Jays in any early season success

BLUE JAYS FORTUNATE IN STARTING PITCHER MATCHUPS THUS FAR

With all the significant MLB pitching injuries, thus far in 2024, the Blue Jays have been like a, mid-pack, NASCAR driver who takes advantage of massive wreckage in front of him to navigate through mayhem and end up somewhere near the lead. For example, RH Jose Berrios was scheduled to face RH Yu Darvish in a marquee matchup on Saturday at Petco Park, but, instead, the Japanese veteran was forced onto the IL days prior to his start with neck tightness. Back in time, opening the season, the Jays faced the Rays, minus LH Shane McClanahan; faced the Astros without RH Justin Verlander; faced the Yankees, twice, without RH Gerrit Cole and LH Nestor Cortes and finally met up with the Padres minus Darvish. Plus they managed to miss San Diego’s daunting duo of RH Dylan Cease and RH Michael King. Yes, the continued good health of the Blue Jays’ rotation has been an advantage for the last two seasons. Consider that it’s the same top four Jays pitchers that have made 18 of the first 22 starts this year, who also made 128 of 162 starts in 2023 (32GS per man).      

BLUE JAYS vs. PADRES @ PETCO PARK

@PETCO ... G1, BLUE JAYS 5 – PADRES 1   ATT: 44,890   WP-Francis  LP-Waldron

Following an off Thursday, the three-game series, the Jays’ first inter-league matchup of the year, began, defensively, with a stunning catch by LF Daulton Varsho to the deepest part of left-centre field, leaping on the warning track, crashing against the wall and hanging on to the ground, on a drive off the bat of 2B Xander Bogaerts. It was given 90% chance off the bat of being a hit. That web gem followed a top-of-the-first homer by DH Justin Turner off part-time knuckleballer RH Matt Waldron that gave the Jays a lead they never relinquished.

It was RH Yariel Rodriguez’s second career start and once again he was offered an early, first-inning lead. Consider, the 27-year-old Cuban has now faced 32 batters, combined, in his two MLB starts and has pitched with the lead for 29 of those hitters, been tied for three (top of 1st vs. Rockies) and has trailed for none. The Jays added four more in the second inning, keyed by a slicing, two-run linedrive to left-centre off the bat of CF Kevin Kiermaier that rookie CF Jackson Merrill stopped with a lunge, but failed to glove it, leaving it sitting on the grass, resulting in a double. 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr and Turner then added on RBI singles. The only damage to Rodriguez was a huge solo homer in the third by RF Fernando Tatis Jr.

@ PETCO … G2, BLUE JAYS 5 – PADRES 2   ATT: 43,273  WP-Berrios  LP-Vasquez

There is no doubt RH Jose Berrios has forced his way into, early, Top 5 consideration for the AL Cy Young and for the league’s April pitcher of the month. Facing the Padres, he worked another six shutout innings, with five hits, two walks and six Ks. There is also no doubt that once again, Berrios benefitted from strong outfield defence, highlighted by a twisting, turning, meandering route to the base of the wall in right by RF George Springer flagging down a 101 mph line drive by RF Fernando Tatis Jr in the fifth. In live action at the time, if one was to judge solely by the reactions of Padres hitters, it would seem umpire Ramon de Jesus was helping Berrios out with some borderline calls that may have been balls. However, the very credible Umpire Scorecards website, post-game, suggested that de Jesus was better than most on this day, missing just nine pitches overall and only one strike vs. the Padres that should have been a ball. That speaks, instead, to the extreme movement on Berrios 2-seam fastball that froze hitters and to the box-touching precision of his slurve. LF Jurickson Profar argued a called third strike to end the first, slammed his bat then followed with his helmet and was ejected. The Profar ejection was irrelevant. Offensively, the Jays scored early again, a three-run blast in the first inning by the surging LF Daulton Varsho. In his last five games, through Sunday, Varsho was 7-for-18-.389, with six runs, six RBIs, three doubles, three homers and a 1.056 OPS. Plus, he made multiple outfield catches that had pitchers raising their arms aloft in delight.    

 

@PETCO … G3, BLUE JAYS  3 – PADRES 6  ATT: 44,527   WP-Musgrove  LP-Bassitt

The Jays entered the finale with a solid opportunity to sweep the three-games vs. the Padres, working behind RH Chris Bassitt, who pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs, two earned, exiting the game after 93 pitches. Bassitt was definitely not helped by his defence. The cerebral, intense veteran left in the sixth, tied 2-2 before RH Trevor Richards entered, struggled with his control and command and allowed his two inherited runners to score. This was far from the winning formula that saw the Jays take the first two games at Petco Park. The Jays defence on Sunday was shaky all day, starting with a groundball single that snuck under RF George Springer’s glove in the first, for what amounted to a three-base error and the Padres’ opening run. The failed leather day continued when SS Bo Bichette couldn’t cleanly corral a grounder by CF Jackson Merrill leading off the fifth, that turned into an infield hit and caused Bassitt extra pitches and stress. In fact, the Jays’ entire day of pitching – Bassitt, Richards and, finally, RH Nate Pearson -- failed to command the strike zone for the first time in a while, walking nine Padres, adding a hit batter, throwing 158 pitches in eight innings, with just 88 of those strikes. Under the now accepted guidelines of the modern game, four of the Jays’ eight relievers were deemed unavailable including RH Yimi Garcia, RH Jordan Romano, RH Eric Swanson and RH Bowden Francis.         

BLUE JAYS NOTES:

*BERRIOS SHUTOUT INNINGS STREAK: The current RH Jose Berrios shutout innings streak stands at 21.2 innings, going back to April 2, when Jose Altuve led off the fourth inning at Minute Maid Park with a home run. Since that time, in his three-plus starts, Berrios opponents with runners in scoring position have been 1-for-15 with three walks. In fact, that one hit was a bases loaded grounder to third by Alex Bregman that Altuve ran into and hit him (interference). It ended the inning, but the scoring rule credited Bregman a basehit. The Blue Jays record is 33 straight shutout innings by RH Roger Clemens in 1998. Clemens allowed an RBI double to Tim Salmon (Angels) on Aug. 15 and his next run did not come until an RBI single by Darren Lewis (Red Sox) on Sept. 5. Of course, it should be noted that in between those runs Rocket logged three straight complete-game shutouts.        

*ROAD TRIP: The Jays are 2-1 on this seven-game, seven-day trip, with four more in Kansas City. The Jays return home, April 26 vs. the Dodgers. For those keeping track of such things, Shohei Ohtani is guaranteed to be on the flight from Philly to Pearson, the evening of April 25.

*TRAVEL DAY WOES: Don’t blame the Traveling Secretary, but the Blue Jays are 1-4 on travel days, i.e. games at which the team shows up at the ballpark with bags packed ready to move on to the next city. These team travel days usually involve a loosening of the rules, a late arrival to the yard, with no batting practice on the field, with everything optional. Many times, it’s a day game after a night game with a regular position player or two being given the day off their feet, but available off the bench. In those five games, the Jays have been outscored 30-19. Vlad Guerrero Jr in that quintet of travel games is 2-for-17 with five walks and a hit-by-pitch.

UPCOMING: The Jays come home following the quartet of contests at Kauffman Stadium for a six-game homestand against the disappointing Dodgers (3) and the resurrected Royals (3). That will be 13 straight days in three time zones, without a scheduled off-day. Highly unusual.