At the most important time in the American League wild card competition, the Toronto Blue Jays, which did not win a single game, fell into a four-game losing streak. He is now in a situation where it is impossible to guarantee whether he will advance to the postseason.
Toronto lost 2-9 in the final game of four consecutive games against the Texas Rangers in the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) at Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the 15th (Korea Standard Time). The season’s performance was 80 wins and 67 losses, and the gap between Toronto, the fourth-ranked wild card in the American League, and the third-ranked Seattle Mariners widened by 1.5 games.
On this day, Texas formed a lineup of Marcus Simian (2nd baseman), Corrie Seager (1st baseman), Nathaniel Lowe (1st baseman), Mitch Garber (designated hitter), Robbie Grossman (right fielder), Jonah Heim (catcher), Josh Smith (3rd baseman), and Ezekiel Duran (left fielder). The starting pitcher is Nathan Yvoldi.
Toronto, seeking to escape its third consecutive loss, consisted of a lineup of George Springer (designated hitter), Bo Bissett (shortstop), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (first baseman), Davis Schneider (second baseman), Cavan Vizio (right fielder), Matt Chapman (third baseman) and Wit Maryfield (left fielder) and Alejandro Kirk-Kevin Kier (center fielder). Kevin Gaussman took the starting role.
Texas opened the door first. In the top of the first inning, Seager pulled Gaussman’s second splitter and hit a first solo shot over the right-center fence to take the lead.
Then Toronto immediately launched a counterattack. After Bisset got on base with a left-handed hit in the bottom of the first inning with one out, Guerrero Jr. fired a two-run shot over the left side from Ivoldi to turn the game around. The score is 2-1.메이저사이트
Texas, which dedicated the reversal, regained the lead in the top of the second inning. Seager, who was the main character of the first solo home run in the top of the first inning, hit a two-run double to left field with two outs and runners on first and second base. Maryfield followed until the end and tried to catch a ball with a jump catch, but the ball that went into the glove came out, leading to a hit. Seager’s 40th double this season.
Texas began to widen the gap with Haim’s solo shot in the top of the third inning. Toronto attempted to turn the mood around in the top of the fourth inning when center fielder Kiermeyer caught Garber’s hit with a sliding catch, but was tied to two points without scoring a goal.
The two-point gap continued until the bottom of the seventh inning, and Texas, which needed additional points, finally secured the victory with a large score in the top of the eighth inning. Simian made an RBI double after leadoff hitter Duran’s double and Carter’s walk, followed by Lowe’s two-run timely hit after Trevor Richards’ automatic intentional fourth pitch. On top of that, Gross’s push-off walk and Smith’s sacrifice fly were added, widening the gap between the two teams to seven points.
Toronto, which had no choice but to lose its will to chase, failed to narrow the distance until the end of the game, and the game ended with a seven-point victory for Texas. Both the players who lost all four games at home and the fans who watched it were sad.
Starting pitcher Gaussman took his ninth loss of the season with six hits (two home runs) and six walks, five strikeouts and four runs in 4 2⅔ innings, while fourth pitcher Trevor Richards failed to catch one out count and recorded three hits, two walks, and five runs. Except for Bissett, who scored two hits and one walk in three at-bats, there was no player who achieved a multi-hit.
After the game, Gaussman told local media, “Our team played disappointingly in every way, and we had a tough series. “All the players were very angry,” he said, expressing disappointment over the results of the four consecutive games against Texas.
Ben Nicholson-Smith, a reporter for Canadian media SportsNet, said on his social networking service (SNS), “I started the week in a good place, but I was completely overwhelmed after the match against Texas began. The total score of the four games was 9-35,” he said, adding, “The fans booed the players, and of course they had no choice but to do so.” Toronto missed a huge opportunity. “I’ve never looked so dangerous,” he said, reporting on Toronto’s current situation in Toronto.
Toronto had to harvest at least two to three wins in four consecutive games to continue its cruise toward the postseason. But from the first day of the series, everything got twisted. Starting pitcher Chris Besitt was sluggish with nine hits, three walks, three strikeouts and five runs in 5 2⅓ innings, including one home run, and the team lost 4-10.
At least, Toronto played an equal game in the second game of the series, in which “Korean Monster” Ryu Hyun-jin started. Ryu Hyun-jin, who faced Max Scherzer as a starter, scored five hits (one home run), one walk, five strikeouts and three runs in six innings, achieving his first quality start since his return from injury. He took his third loss of the season due to lack of scoring support, but the process was not bad.
However, the batting line, which failed to score a point in six innings, failed to help Ryu Hyun-jin. He belatedly started the chase, but it was not enough to reverse the gap that had already widened, and eventually lost 3-6. The scenario of harvesting three wins was already out of the question.
Game 3 was ‘worst’. While starter Yusei Kikuchi was sluggish with five hits (two home runs) and two walks, three strikeouts and six runs in five innings, the batters remained silent throughout the game. No batter showed any significant performance except Santiago Espinal and Ernie Clement fought hard with multi-hits. Toronto could not avoid a 0-10 tie.
In the end, the flow continued to the last game, and there was no reversal. It is difficult to say that it is satisfactory to win two games in four games, but Toronto clearly needs to look back on the process of four consecutive games.
Now, it is difficult for Toronto to advance to the postseason on its own. Toronto can only change its ranking if it succeeds in rebounding as one of the teams between Texas and Seattle, ranked second in the wild card, has fallen.
Now Toronto has only 15 games left. After three consecutive home games against the Boston Red Sox on the 16th to the 18th, six consecutive away games, which will lead to the New York Yankees on the 20th to the 22nd and the Tampa Bay Rays on the 23rd to 25th, await Toronto. It remains to be seen whether the players can overcome the current crisis.