4 days ago
The A's have been good for what was ailing the Blue Jays offence, but it might take more to heal Daulton Varsho
Grazing on the A's. Regurgitating that cud.
A performance-enhancing supplement for what had been, until this weekend, largely an anemic offence, especially mordant with runners in scoring position. But the Blue Jays have erupted — albeit off the sketchy moundsmen of the Vagabond Athletics — for 10 home runs over the last three days.
Four of them came Saturday afternoon, half of those from George Springer.
Take three A's games and call me in the morning was exactly the corrective the Jays needed. On this day, with an 8-7 win under the closed dome at Rogers Centre, the Jays are coming out of May with a 16-12 record after a flaccid 11-14 April. Although the final score was closer than it should have been, with another troubling close-out teeter by Jeff Hoffman, who gave up a two-run shot in the ninth and left the tying run on second when a brilliant stabbing catch by Ernie Clement preserved the win.
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Centre-fielder grabs his left leg as he tries to stretch a double into a triple.
The (non-Oakland) A's had sent a couple of balls screeching out of the ballpark in the first and second innings on what was a spot-start day for the Jays. Braydon Fisher was punched up as the opener but it was Easton Lucas, resurrected from Triple-A, as the bulk guy who ultimately claimed the win.
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The Jays got bombs from Addison Barger and Bo Bichette — the 100th of his career — ahead of the brace of four-baggers from Springer, who is heating up again after cooling down after charging out of the gate altogether unexpectedly. Springer was handling the big bat business until Daulton Varsho was reactivated following shoulder surgery rehab and started blasting them into the seats.
I'm backing into what was the most significant event in Saturday's encounter: Varsho clutching at his left hamstring as he rounded second trying to stretch a double into a triple. Out at third was the least of it as he lay curled on the ground, visibly and audibly in pain.
'Your heart hurts for him,'' said Springer, probably Varsho's closest buddy. 'He never really shows pain. The way he went down … it was tough.''
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It was on everybody's mind post-game as Varsho was undergoing an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, which might be as bad as a torn hamstring and four to six weeks sidelined. But I'm not going to put the hearse before the horse and will wait for more definitive news Sunday.
As I said, it was a bullpen day for the Jays as they continue to bob and weave their way through a season without a fifth starter. They dropped Fisher, who hadn't allowed a run through his first seven career appearances, into the opener blocks for his first MLB start. And before you could say Bob's-your-uncle, the A's had three runs on the board, two singles brought home on Tyler Soderstrom's long ball, then up 5-3 when Pickering's Denzel Clarke went yard. The A's don't actually lack for offence; it's everything else that's a mess.
As planned, Fisher disappeared from the fray, replaced by Lucas with one out in the second Sorta planned. 'Pitching plans sometimes don't go to plan,'' observed manager John Schneider, Zen-like.
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Summoned on Thursday from Buffalo, Lucas was once-upon-a-time perceived as that fifth starter — in lieu of Max Scherzer, a fleeting thumb-stricken spectre since the three innings he threw for Toronto on March 29. Lucas posted two fine starts in April, two crummy starts in April, and was dispatched to the Bisons to work particularly on the hard slider that Jays wanted to see more of. He brought along a more polished cutter as well.
'It's kind of a pitch that I can throw in or around the zone and get guys off the fastball. I used it up until the end of spring training and then kind of went away from it.''
Lucas got himself into immediate trouble by loading the bases on a trio of cheesy singles. But out of trouble too, with some nifty defensive work, including an inning-ending splay of limbs to deny Shea Langeliers.
'OK, it's three soft singles,'' Lucas told himself. 'Not my best locations. Had to calm down a little bit, get down in the zone. Yeah, it was a struggle. I had to make that crazy tough play off Langeliers to get him out. But after that I was able to settle down.''
Blue Jays
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It was an inning to remember at Thursday's game after Clement and Guerrero Jr. both homered to
He limited the A's to no runs on four hits with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings before handing off to his bullpen brethren.
Lucas assessed what has changed between his first stint with Toronto and this one.
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'Just kind of regaining confidence. Knowing what I need to do to get guys out. Went down, working on getting the cutter back, figuring out the changeup. Being able to throw it to better locations. And then just throwing the fastball harder.''
Meanwhile, Toronto hitters were cooking, with Springer at full boil. He turned on the first pitch he saw in the third and fifth innings, fastball and slider respectively.
'I felt like I was in a good count. Well, obviously, 0 and 0. I don't know, just wanted to hit something hard.
'Just get ready to hit and hit it.''
