TORONTO — The Chicago Cubs had men on the corners with two outs in the second inning and Zach McKinstry was down 0-2 in the count when Toronto Blue Jays starter Mitch White grounded out and Alfonso Rivas singled to second.
This is where everyone stayed at the delivery.
White’s fastball sailed high for a ball, Alejandro Kirk popped up and fired to second without hesitation and, as did Yan Gomes, already a third down the line with Matt Chapman playing out of the bag, he broke for home.
By the time the ball reached Bo Bichette at second base, Gomes was already more than halfway home and there was no way out at the plate, as you can see here.
Wisely, Bichette held onto the ball, chased down Rivas, who was shorted when Kirk threw to second, and relayed to Cavan Biggio who applied the tag to end the frame. Still, Gomes hit home well before the third out, robbing the Cubs of a run that opened up a 2-0 lead.
Not great, certainly, but by no means unsurpassed. In isolation, it’s not necessarily a big deal either, because baseball happens and the other team is trying too. Still, in the context of the Blue Jays’ current season, the play was emblematic of the small margins in which they’ve been too lax at times, making life more difficult if not costing them games.
In what ended up being a 7-5 loss to the Cubs on Wednesday night, Gomes’ run wasn’t decisive on its own. But along with Ian Happ’s RBI single in the first on a 102.7-mph liner that faded enough to Whit Merrifield, it allowed “a couple of runs that you can look back on and replay in your mind a little bit” , said interim manager John Schneider. .
When White gave up a three-run third that opened a 5-0 Cubs lead, Gomes’ smart run loomed even larger.
“The play, designed in a perfect world, is that yes, we’re throwing to second place with the option to redirect and go home,” Schneider said. “The catcher has to look at third down there and if you see Gomes that far, it replaces your throw to second, and it gives Chappy a little bit of time to get to the bag. For any catcher, even if we’re throwing to second, you have to check the runner and if he’s erring like he is, you have to make an adjustment.”
There were none this time, though the Blue Jays (70-59) made it interesting — getting a two-run homer by Biggio in the third and, after a solo homer by Franmil Reyes in the fifth, made it 6-2, and a three-run shot by Kirk in the sixth, they never tied again.
Chapman nearly tied it in the sixth when he lined a ball off the left-field wall, but after a walk by Teoscar Hernandez, Biggio grounded out to end the frame.
An RBI single by McKinstry in the seventh made it 7-5 and Rowan Wick of North Vancouver, B.C., the last of seven Cubs pitchers, closed out the game in the ninth in front of a frustrated crowd of 28,572.
The loss capped a disappointing 2-4 at home that followed a 6-1 sweep by the Bronx and Beantown and sent the Blue Jays into a bye on a negative note. At the same time, despite August 13-14, they will start September in possession of the third and last wildcard spot.
“We feel pretty good,” Biggio said. “Obviously, the series against Anaheim was pretty tough. But if you look at that road trip, we saw everything come together, initial pitching, timely hitting, the bullpen has been key. It was exciting to watch. The series d ‘Anaheim and maybe today. It’s kind of a result of the dog days of August. We’ve got a bunch of guys that are grinding right now and at the end of the day, that’s baseball.’
A 10-game road trip that begins Friday in Pittsburgh against the lowly Pirates comes as it follows a crucial four-game set with a doubleheader Monday against the Orioles, two games back in the wild-card race.
The Blue Jays were considering ways to reset their rotation to be at their best for this series, and they follow a three-game road trip to Texas, the latest weak spot in a meat grinder September schedule.
“To be in every big game for a playoff stretch in the last month, that’s great,” Schneider said. “With that, if you want to call it pressure, it’s great, that’s been earned and we’ve definitely earned it. A lot of teams have earned it so far. The group of guys out there are accepting the fact that every game it’s going to be important. It’s great for some of the young guys that we have to do this again like we did last year. And it’s great that we have veteran leadership on both sides of the ball. So we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
This time, the Blue Jays, of course, will be looking for a different result than they suffered last year when they fell one game short of the playoffs. To that end, they’ll need to get the Whites back on track, as after allowing a career-high seven runs in his last outing, he gave up six more against the Cubs, despite striking out 14 in 4, 2 tickets
This is an indicator that his fastball and slider can be effective, but that perhaps there are ways to get better use of them with tweaks around usage, along with the rest of his repertoire.
“These last two have obviously been a little rough, so we’ve been looking into that kind of thing,” White said. “Whether it’s pitch selection, pitch execution, that’s where we break it down with Pete (Walker) in the video and then if there’s anything mechanical. We’re working on some little things in the pen, but right now the season, it’s not like we’re making big mechanical changes.”
Then, of course, there’s a tighter game, as mistakes can sometimes be overcome against teams like the Cubs, but they’re even more problematic with tougher competition looming later this month.
“That’s a tough play,” Biggio said of Gomes’ run in the second. “The first and third play we made was a pitch, but if you see him break and you get a chance at home, try to turn it around and throw it home. But the lefty was up, Chappy was a a little. a little off third, which allowed the base runner to get a little bit more of an advantage, so as soon as he threw the ball, he got a big jump and there was no way the we get. Just a good baseball play from they executed pretty well.”
The kind of little play that can make a big difference.