Playoff clincher will have to wait after another Jays loss

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The celebration will have to wait at least another day.

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Needing a win to clinch a playoff berth, the Blue Jays again struggled at the plate, though unlike a night earlier, didn’t also have trouble keeping the opposing Kansas City Royals off the scoreboard.

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Shane Bieber was solid, but would have needed to pitch a shutout for Toronto to win on this night in Kansas City with a Daulton Varsho solo home run the only offence the visitors could muster.

A potential clinch became possible after the flailing Detroit Tigers earlier blew a lead in the ninth against Atlanta, lowering Toronto’s magic number to one. But the bats were all but shut down by Royals starter Noah Cameron and the Royals bullpen in a 2-1 loss.

Combined with the Yankees win over Baltimore, the Jays’ lead over the Bronx Bombers in the AL East is now down to two games.

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Most of the Jays had barely ever seen Cameron (only Ty France had more than three career at-bats against the impressive rookie) and it showed. With his five-pitch mix, Cameron gave up only two hits over 6.2 innings until Varsho — the only left-handed Jays starter against the lefty hurler — hit a first-pitch shot to chase Cameron.

But that was it in terms of runs for a team that has scored only three times over the past four games. Over that span, it’s been four hits three times and just three in the other.

Bieber had dominated the Royals over his career (6-1, including 3-0 at Kansas City), and was by no means bad, but back-to-back home runs to Bobby Witt Jr., and Vinnie Pasquantino in the fourth were two mistakes too many given the sorry state of the Toronto offence. Bieber allowed only two other hits in his 6.1 innings.

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Toronto lost its fourth straight after a run of seven wins in eight games.

Some thoughts on where things stand for the Jays right now:

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POWER OUTAGE

The bats have gone cold at a sub-optimal time. Take away George Springer’s absurd .350/.435 splits with team highs in homers, RBIs and walks over the previous 25 games and factor in the injury absence of Bo Bichette and it’s gotten downright ugly.

Only five Jays besides Bichette and Springer have a higher than league average (.721) OPS over this stretch, while only two others have a higher batting average than Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s .261.

The Jays had hit only seven home runs over the previous 12 games, fewest in the American League, and only four by players not named Springer, until Varsho hit his 19th of the season.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a chance to turn things around in the eighth inning with a runner on first base, but flew out meekly on a 1-0 count. Guerrero got ahead of the count in all but one of his at-bats Saturday, but could not take advantage. He did hit a single earlier.

Varsho also came close to putting the Jays ahead in the ninth when, with Ty France on first with a one-out single, he tagged a long fly ball to left-centre that was tracked down by outfielder John Rave on the warning track.

FEARSOME FOURSOME?

The recent removal of two veteran starters from the rotation will put plenty of pressure on the group manager John Schneider plans to roll with the rest of the way before the playoffs arrive.

Chris Bassitt was placed on the injured list with back inflammation Saturday, while Jose Berrios, the team’s opening day starter three of the last four years, was moved to the bullpen a day earlier.

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Berrios has not been at his best for most of the season, but has particularly struggled recently, surrendering 13 runs over his past 17.2 innings with a 4.81 ERA and .825 opposing OPS in the second half of the season (vs. 3.75 and .711 in the first half).

Meanwhile, Bassitt will be eligible to return in time for the post-season, though that might also be out of the bullpen, depending on how rookie Trey Yesavage — who starts the team’s final road game Sunday in K.C. — and struggling veteran Max Scherzer finish up behind Kevin Gausman and Bieber, the clear 1-2 starters. Eric Lauer also remains in the bullpen.

Per MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson, Schneider told reporters in Kansas City that Berrios, like Lauer earlier, was not thrilled to be yanked from the rotation and put into an “uncomfortable” spot, but “he was professional and honest like he always is with everything.”

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ONE TIRED BULLPEN

Friday’s 20-1 shelling by the Royals left the Jays depleted. Four relievers had to provide 5.1 innings behind Scherzer after the Hall of Fame-bound veteran lasted just 0.2 innings in one of the worst outings of his illustrious career. It got so bad that two position players had to mop up behind Braydon Fisher, Tommy Nance, Yariel Rodriguez and Brendon Little.

The Jays called up Mason Fluharty to help ease the burden a bit (possible with Bassitt being moved to the injured list), and he was called on first after Bieber was lifted. Fluharty induced what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Ernie Clement made an error, allowing the ball to go through him.

Fluharty hit the next batter to load the bases with one out, but got a big strikeout before Myles Straw made a great running over-the-shoulder-catch of Carter Jensen’s slicing line drive to left to end the inning.

Closer Jeff Hoffman added a shutout inning for the bullpen in his first appearance since two straight on Monday and Tuesday.

@WolstatSun

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