The Blue Jays Can T Complete The Comeback As Late Errors Lead To A Loss To The Twins

And on Friday night, when one of those games unfolded against another team with aspirations of playing the same kind of baseball over the next two-plus months, that execution wasn’t there.
That is, apparently, why the Blue Jays lost to the Minnesota Twins, 6-5, in 10 innings. A rough night from Jose Berrios didn’t help either. The Blue Jays starter lasted just 3.2 innings, coughing up five earned runs before giving way to a procession of six relievers from the Toronto bullpen. And yet, that team did its job, holding the Twins steady as Toronto’s offense battled back into it, eventually tying the game while getting its final hit in the ninth. But then the mistakes started. First, there was a ground ball routine to Cavan Biggio in the bottom of the ninth that the Blue Jays second baseman whiffed. Then there was the scoring opportunity in the top of the 10th when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove a Michael Fulmer slider over the head of Twins second baseman Luis Arraez. The ball was hit well enough, and high enough, that Biggio could have gotten a better read from second and broken for third right away. But instead, his first move was back to the bag, eliminating the chance to score the green streak. And finally, there was the bottom of the 10th. With a runner on second to start the inning, Jordan Romano hit Nick Cave with a slider in the dirt. But Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen first missed an attempt to tag Cave, then sent his throw to first, allowing the Twins outfielder to reach and the runner on second — Nick Gordon — to advance to third. Two pitches later, Romano got Tim Beckham to bounce with a pitch to Matt Chapman at third as Gordon took off for home. But Chapman’s throw picked off Jansen, who couldn’t find it as Gordon slid in with the game-winning run. “There was a lot going on there,” Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider said. “Obviously in the ninth there defensively (with Biggio). With Gurriel’s hit — hard to read [Biggio] there with one out on the drive line. It’s very difficult for a runner on second. “And then in the 10th inning — I think if you want the ball to hit anybody, it’s Matt Chapman. And the hit to Cave — Jano blocks everything and I think when he tried to tag him, he lost a little bit of his angle on the throw to first and made it a little harder than it probably should have been. So you see these things as opportunities to get better.” The Blue Jays will certainly need it and so will Berrios, whose recent run of success came to a halt Friday at the ballpark he spent the first six seasons of his career calling home. It looked like Berrios was going to complete another cruise control outing as he went through his first two innings on just 14 pitches. But he coughed up a Mark Contreras solo shot to third and started the fourth by allowing the first three to reach — a double, a walk and a single. Berrios’ next pitch — after a meeting with pitching coach Pete Walker — was a changeup that didn’t fool Gordon, who blasted it 410 feet over the right-field wall. Berrios got a few outs from there, but his 26th pitch of the inning was ball four to Sandy Leon. And that was it. “I wasn’t able to make quality pitches tonight. But I go out there and compete and try to do my best,” Berrios said. “Fastballs, breaking balls, my changeup — I was leaving them behind, not throwing quality pitches. But I’m just going to turn the page and keep going.” Ultimately, Berrios lacked the same curveball that led to six strong outings in July, posting a 3.00 ERA and 3.25 FIP while striking out 42 and walking just seven over 36 innings. He didn’t have command of his fastball either, missing either too far from the plate on four-legs and sinkers or too far from his heart. It was an untimely setback for the Blue Jays starter who had struggled with inconsistency all season and seemed to finally be finding his groove. “For the last month, I have been doing well. Today, I came to a stadium and felt healthy and strong. But this is one of those nights where I couldn’t make my pitches,” Berrios said. “I’m going to keep on track, I’m going to try to have that consistency. Obviously, I didn’t throw well tonight. But I’ll turn the page. I know I’ve been flying really well lately. So I want to get back to that.” Meanwhile, Twins starter Tyler Mahle cruised into the sixth when Santiago Espinal tagged him for a leadoff solo shot, Whit Merrifield hit an infield single and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turn a cookie for one of these crazy people. line drive homers hits that just never go down: But Mahle contained the damage from there and finished the sixth, giving way to a string of tough relievers, including getting Jorge Lopez, who entered the ninth throwing 99 mph gas and foul shots as he tried to protect a lead off run and secured his second save for his new team. After all, he wouldn’t. Bo Bichette and Jansen reached on singles before Raimel Tapia somehow blasted a two-run, two-strikeout, 98 mph Lopez into the infield black over no man’s land in shallow center. It came off Tapia’s bat at 75.5 mph, soft enough to drop as Bichette cruised home with the tying run. It was an almost unbelievable result against one of the most electrifying closes of this season. He fired up the Blue Jays dugout, and the thousands of blue-clad Toronto fans lining the stands behind him. Just as Yimi Garcia put all those people away again in the bottom of the inning when he got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam that was created when Biggio blew that routine pitch to second. But the Blue Jays couldn’t take advantage of Fulmer in the top of the 10th, as Minnesota’s other bullpen acquisition mixed 95 mph off a ridiculous slider that ran up to 92. Fulmer was in and out of the zone, as he tends to to be, but still got the job done, working around a walk to Guerrero, Gurriel singled and Biggio failed to hit the side and jam the bases loaded. That put the Blue Jays in a dire position, having to prevent a second runner from scoring with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th. And Schneider put his team in the best possible position to win by calling his closer, Romano, into the spot. But you know what happened next. Toronto’s run ended again, a throw was posted to first, no play was made at the plate, and the Blue Jays lost. “It was a roller coaster. But I think everything worked out the way we wanted it to. We just didn’t execute at the end,” Snyder said. “You learn from it, you move on. And you have another game tomorrow.”

title: “The Blue Jays Can T Complete The Comeback As Late Errors Lead To A Loss To The Twins " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-13” author: “Walton Wilkinson”

And on Friday night, when one of those games unfolded against another team with aspirations of playing the same kind of baseball over the next two-plus months, that execution wasn’t there.
That is, apparently, why the Blue Jays lost to the Minnesota Twins, 6-5, in 10 innings. A rough night from Jose Berrios didn’t help either. The Blue Jays starter lasted just 3.2 innings, coughing up five earned runs before giving way to a procession of six relievers from the Toronto bullpen. And yet, that team did its job, holding the Twins steady as Toronto’s offense battled back into it, eventually tying the game while getting its final hit in the ninth. But then the mistakes started. First, there was a ground ball routine to Cavan Biggio in the bottom of the ninth that the Blue Jays second baseman whiffed. Then there was the scoring opportunity in the top of the 10th when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove a Michael Fulmer slider over the head of Twins second baseman Luis Arraez. The ball was hit well enough, and high enough, that Biggio could have gotten a better read from second and broken for third right away. But instead, his first move was back to the bag, eliminating the chance to score the green streak. And finally, there was the bottom of the 10th. With a runner on second to start the inning, Jordan Romano hit Nick Cave with a slider in the dirt. But Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen first missed an attempt to tag Cave, then sent his throw to first, allowing the Twins outfielder to reach and the runner on second — Nick Gordon — to advance to third. Two pitches later, Romano got Tim Beckham to bounce with a pitch to Matt Chapman at third as Gordon took off for home. But Chapman’s throw picked off Jansen, who couldn’t find it as Gordon slid in with the game-winning run. “There was a lot going on there,” Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider said. “Obviously in the ninth there defensively (with Biggio). With Gurriel’s hit — hard to read [Biggio] there with one out on the drive line. It’s very difficult for a runner on second. “And then in the 10th inning — I think if you want the ball to hit anybody, it’s Matt Chapman. And the hit to Cave — Jano blocks everything and I think when he tried to tag him, he lost a little bit of his angle on the throw to first and made it a little harder than it probably should have been. So you see these things as opportunities to get better.” The Blue Jays will certainly need it and so will Berrios, whose recent run of success came to a halt Friday at the ballpark he spent the first six seasons of his career calling home. It looked like Berrios was going to complete another cruise control outing as he went through his first two innings on just 14 pitches. But he coughed up a Mark Contreras solo shot to third and started the fourth by allowing the first three to reach — a double, a walk and a single. Berrios’ next pitch — after a meeting with pitching coach Pete Walker — was a changeup that didn’t fool Gordon, who blasted it 410 feet over the right-field wall. Berrios got a few outs from there, but his 26th pitch of the inning was ball four to Sandy Leon. And that was it. “I wasn’t able to make quality pitches tonight. But I go out there and compete and try to do my best,” Berrios said. “Fastballs, breaking balls, my changeup — I was leaving them behind, not throwing quality pitches. But I’m just going to turn the page and keep going.” Ultimately, Berrios lacked the same curveball that led to six strong outings in July, posting a 3.00 ERA and 3.25 FIP while striking out 42 and walking just seven over 36 innings. He didn’t have command of his fastball either, missing either too far from the plate on four-legs and sinkers or too far from his heart. It was an untimely setback for the Blue Jays starter who had struggled with inconsistency all season and seemed to finally be finding his groove. “For the last month, I have been doing well. Today, I came to a stadium and felt healthy and strong. But this is one of those nights where I couldn’t make my pitches,” Berrios said. “I’m going to keep on track, I’m going to try to have that consistency. Obviously, I didn’t throw well tonight. But I’ll turn the page. I know I’ve been flying really well lately. So I want to get back to that.” Meanwhile, Twins starter Tyler Mahle cruised into the sixth when Santiago Espinal tagged him for a leadoff solo shot, Whit Merrifield hit an infield single and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. turn a cookie for one of these crazy people. line drive homers hits that just never go down: But Mahle contained the damage from there and finished the sixth, giving way to a string of tough relievers, including getting Jorge Lopez, who entered the ninth throwing 99 mph gas and foul shots as he tried to protect a lead off run and secured his second save for his new team. After all, he wouldn’t. Bo Bichette and Jansen reached on singles before Raimel Tapia somehow blasted a two-run, two-strikeout, 98 mph Lopez into the infield black over no man’s land in shallow center. It came off Tapia’s bat at 75.5 mph, soft enough to drop as Bichette cruised home with the tying run. It was an almost unbelievable result against one of the most electrifying closes of this season. He fired up the Blue Jays dugout, and the thousands of blue-clad Toronto fans lining the stands behind him. Just as Yimi Garcia put all those people away again in the bottom of the inning when he got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam that was created when Biggio blew that routine pitch to second. But the Blue Jays couldn’t take advantage of Fulmer in the top of the 10th, as Minnesota’s other bullpen acquisition mixed 95 mph off a ridiculous slider that ran up to 92. Fulmer was in and out of the zone, as he tends to to be, but still got the job done, working around a walk to Guerrero, Gurriel singled and Biggio failed to hit the side and jam the bases loaded. That put the Blue Jays in a dire position, having to prevent a second runner from scoring with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th. And Schneider put his team in the best possible position to win by calling his closer, Romano, into the spot. But you know what happened next. Toronto’s run ended again, a throw was posted to first, no play was made at the plate, and the Blue Jays lost. “It was a roller coaster. But I think everything worked out the way we wanted it to. We just didn’t execute at the end,” Snyder said. “You learn from it, you move on. And you have another game tomorrow.”