Sometimes, baseball just doesn't make sense. The Toronto Blue Jays had ten hits on Friday night but managed only one run. That takes effort. Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it.
Yohendrick Piñango led the way with three hits, including the team's only extra-base hit—a double. He's hitting .500 right now, which makes you wonder how the Jays can even think about sending him down when Nathan Lukes or Addison Barger return from the IL. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in the lone run, plating Piñango. But nine singles and one double should produce more than a single run.
The Tampa Bay Rays jumped on starter Eric Lauer early. The first three batters went single, walk, home run. It was a brutal reminder of why the "opener" strategy exists. Lauer settled down after that, finishing with 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts over 5.1 innings. But the damage was done.
Spencer Miles cleaned up the fifth inning nicely but ran into trouble in the sixth. After a ground out and a single, he struck out a batter, then gave up two more singles. Mason Fluharty came in and surrendered a two-run single, effectively ending the game. Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply each tossed a scoreless inning, but the hole was too deep.
Defensively, it wasn't pretty either. Ernie Clement had a rough night. In this reporter's opinion, he made two errors—a throw wide of first by ten feet and a ball that went off his glove. The official scorer disagreed, which is a shame. Bring back 1930s fielding averages, I say. Call them what they are.
Daulton Varsho went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, summing up the offensive struggles. The Jays left runners on base and couldn't capitalize with runners in scoring position. You hate to make excuses, but maybe they're pressing. Still, this is a team that went to the World Series last year. They should know how to drive in a run.
The Blue Jays now sit at 16-19 after 35 games. Last year, they were also 16-19 at this point. So all is not lost. But "all" might be pushing it. Time to turn it around, one game at a time.