Jays vs. Rangers: Alejandro Kirk leads comeback with key hits in seventh and eighth innings

Toronto Star

2 days ago

He might well have been puzzled by his own pitching dip over the past few weeks.
1 Across: What has happened to my command?
1 Down: How can I keep the ball in the park?
It didn't take long for Kyle Higashioka to solve Bassitt, turning on a 0-1 cutter that went buh-bye over the left-field wall, scoring a couple of former Blue Jays — Marcus Semien (hit batter) and Rowdy Tellez (walk) — as the Texas Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Toronto in the second inning Friday night at the Rogers Centre.
A lot of damage on 17 pitches in one frame.
And yet, twist that Rubik's cube — yes, we're playing with a Rubik's cube now — and the Blue Jays turned the game on its head, with four runs in the eighth inning, with Alejandro Kirk's two-run single, followed by Alejandro Kirk's first-ever stolen base.
That alone was worth the price of admission. Along with the 6-5 win, ending with Jeff Hoffman's 28th save.
It had actually started out as a sparkling display of outfield acrobatics, back to back, by Toronto's Nathan Lukes — leaping with outstretched glove at the wall to rob extra bases from Joc Pederson for the third out of the first inning, then deftly playing a line drive off the wall as Evan Carter led off the second and tested Lukes' arm. He was nailed trying for two as Lukes fired a cannon to Ernie Clement covering the bag.
The defensive gems behind Bassitt were negated by the right-hander's continuing issues on the mound, though he was spared a seventh loss. It wasn't a horrible pitching line in the series opener with the Rangers — three runs on four hits through five innings — but, yikes, four walks, 100 pitches, just 57 for strikes.
A decision will have to be made sooner rather than later, with the arrival of Shane Bieber, who allowed no runs on 90 pitches in his Friday night start with the Buffalo Bisons. Do the Jays go with a six-man rotation or send one of the starters to the bullpen. At this point, Bassitt is the weak link in the rotation but would manager John Schneider want him in relief? He's given up 21 home runs.
Meanwhile, Jays hitters weren't having much joy with Texas starter Jacob deGrom, a two-time Cy Young Award winner and still all-star worthy. He held the Jays to two hits, striking out five, through five innings before both bullpens took over. But Kirk took hard-throwing hurler Robert Garcia long with a two-run shot in the seventh, his first homer since mid-June, finally getting Toronto on the board, trailing by just one.
When Schneider summoned Louis Varland, the Jays' fifth pitcher of the night, Semien pounced on the first pitch he saw, a slider, that ended up in the left-centre seats and scored a pair, 5-2 Rangers.
But the Jays' bats took a bite of the Texas relief cadre in that eighth, from the ninth hitter, Andrés Giménez, through the top of the order, with runs driven in by Bo Bichette, Dalton Varsho on an RBI walk, and Kirk.