With two outs within the fifth inning Tuesday evening, Kevin Gausman positioned a splitter on the backside of the strike zone to Kyle Isbel.
Isbel swung, hitting a weak floor ball to the left facet, and Gausman appeared to be on his option to stranding Michael Massey at second base and preserving the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2-0 lead. Third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa ranged to his left earlier than making an correct throw to first base. And Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dropped it.
From the infield grass, Kiner-Falefa yelled in frustration. At third, Massey had slowed down, however he picked up pace once more and scored as Guerrero Jr. chased after the ball. On the mound, Gausman set free a dissatisfied sigh.
“What can I say, I simply missed the ball,” Guerrero Jr. mentioned afterwards by means of interpreter Hector Lebron. “Interval.”
However the injury wasn’t finished but. Not solely had the Royals scored, however Guerrero Jr.’s mistake prolonged the inning. Two pitches later, Maikel Garcia singled to centre. One pitch after that, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run double down the left-field line. And so as a substitute of being up 2-0, the Blue Jays have been down 3-2, on their option to a painful and avoidable loss.
“It stinks, however I nonetheless need Vladdy as my first baseman,” Gausman mentioned. “Very assured in his capacity over there… We’re enjoying actually good baseball. One thing like that, it’s unlucky it ended up being as necessary because it was.”
Quickly after the error, Guerrero Jr. approached Gausman within the dugout.
“I informed him ‘my unhealthy,’” Guerrero Jr. recalled. “That is baseball and also you don’t need to miss something, you don’t need to make unhealthy performs, however generally it occurs.”
“He hit me on the shoulder, and that’s form of understood (to imply) ‘my unhealthy,’” Gausman added. “This recreation is tough. I’ve by no means performed first base, so I can’t say something to him. It’s unlucky as a result of clearly it led to a giant inning, and we weren’t in a position to get something going.”
Whereas Guerrero Jr. did stretch to achieve the ball, he wasn’t at full extension on the play, which any supervisor would anticipate a primary baseman to make each time. The error overshadowed a powerful evening of pitching for the Blue Jays, who fell to 13-11 with the loss.
“Errors occur,” mentioned supervisor John Schneider. “Errors are going to occur. Simply an inopportune time, clearly.”
Guerrero goes 0-for-5 as offense continues to wrestle
Granted, it was Guerrero Jr.’s first error of the season, and the play won’t stand out as a lot if the Blue Jays have been hitting higher, however none of that adjustments the details of what occurred. At any stage {of professional} baseball, it’s a play that must be made.
“He’s an excellent first baseman,” Schneider mentioned. “Haven’t dissected it, however thought he was going to catch it.”
Other than these unearned runs within the fifth, Gausman was efficient, pitching 6.2 innings whereas strolling one and placing out two. Later, Nate Pearson and Tim Mayza would preserve the sport inside one, however the Blue Jays couldn’t rally.
“Not practically as constant as I would really like and what I anticipate of myself, however we’re undoubtedly getting there,” Gausman mentioned of his efficiency. “The most important factor with me is my timing has simply been slightly off, and that’s why I’ve been slightly sporadic with my fastball command. My different pitches play off that. However I really feel fairly good with the place I’m at.”
Additionally of observe was centre fielder Kevin Kiermaier’s mid-game departure. Whereas sprinting, he felt discomfort in his left hip flexor. He underwent testing after the sport and is taken into account day-to-day.
Including to the frustration of the day, Guerrero Jr. was hitless in 5 journeys to the plate with two strikeouts and a double play regardless of additionally hitting one ball 110 m.p.h. to centre subject.
“I’m good,” Guerrero Jr. mentioned. “Clearly it’s not the outcomes that I need, however I’m simply going to proceed to maintain working arduous.”
Talking earlier than the sport, Schneider mentioned he sees constructive indicators from the 25-year-old on the plate.
“Most of his bats have been good. The final handful of days, possibly the swings have gotten slightly bit massive on pitches that he can actually hammer.”
“However Vlad’s at all times proper there,” Schneider continued. “He’s most likely probably the most harmful guys within the league.”
If the remainder of the Blue Jays’ lineup have been hitting, there may be much less consideration on Guerrero Jr., who nonetheless has a 108 wRC+ regardless of the hitless evening. However this can be a lineup that hasn’t scored greater than 5 runs in a recreation in two and a half weeks, intensifying the highlight on the offence.
“Total we’re doing an okay job,” Guerrero Jr. mentioned. “We’re not the place we need to be. Within the lineup, you need all people scorching in fact. Two or three (hitters), we’re not scorching but, however there are another guys which are scorching. We’ll get there.”
Which will ultimately show true, however within the meantime, the Blue Jays want crisp defence. On Tuesday, Guerrero Jr.’s mistake meant they fell effectively wanting that customary.
