Article: Blue Jays Week in Review: From the Mile Highs to the Roller Coaster in Chavez Ravine

[Mike LeSage]

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 8/4 through Sun, 8/10
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Record Last Week: 4-2 (Overall: 69-50)
Run Differential Last Week: +28 (Overall: +44)
Standings: First in AL East (4.0 games up on BOS), First in AL (1.0 game up on DET)

Last Week’s Results
Game 114
TOR 15 - COL 1
Lauer: 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Bichette: 3-for-6, 2 HR (14 and 15) and 6 RBI
Clement: 5-for-6, 3 runs scored

Game 115
TOR 10 - COL 4
Berríos: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Varsho: 3-for-5, 2 HR (10 and 11) and 6 RBI
Guerrero: 3-for-5, HR (17)
Lukes: 2-for-4, HR (10)

Game 116
TOR 20 - COL 1
Gausman: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Schneider: 3-for-7, 2 HR (6 and 7) and 4 RBI
France 4-for-4, 4 runs scored
Clement: 4-for-7, HR (6) and 4 runs scored

Game 117
LAD 5 - TOR 1
Scherzer: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Little: 0 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
Barger: 2-for-4, RBI

Game 118
LAD 9 - TOR 1
Bassitt: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Clement: 2-for-4, HR (7)
Rest of team: 3-for-28 with 12 Ks

Game 119:
TOR 5 - LAD 4
Lauer: 3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Bullpen: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 8 BB, 6 K
Guerrero Jr.: 2-for-4, HR (19)

Highlights:
Every bat the team brought to Colorado: I’ll save the breakdown for the Stats of the Week section, but it was a historic offensive output from the Jays across the three games. A +39 run differential in three games to go along with 63 hits and 13 home runs. All nine starting Blue Jays had a hit by the time there was one out in the third inning of the first game, and they just kept rolling.

Scherzer vs. Kershaw: From their Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux matchup beginnings to the twilights of their respective (soon-to-be) Hall of Fame careers, this was a head-to-head pitchers duel worth staying up past my bedtime for. Both pitchers delivered a quality start, going six innings each with very similar stat lines. Scherzer had the edge in Ks (5 to 4), but Kershaw came out on top when it came to earned runs (2 to 1) and ultimately got the win. While it would have been nice for the Jays to get the W here, it was still a highlight just to see the two legends go at it. 

Mason Fluharty picked up the first save of his MLB career, coming into the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and having to face Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. No pressure. After working Ohtani, who had homered earlier in the game and was a problem all series, to a full count, he got him to chase an 83-mph sweeper below the zone for strike three. He followed that up by getting Betts to ground into a force out, securing the win for the Jays. With some upcoming decisions to be made about the pitchers on this roster, Fluharty is staking his claim to a spot. He had two other (much lower leverage) appearances this week and didn’t surrender a run.

Braydon Fisher was also called on four times this week and tallied nine Ks in less than four innings of work. Newcomer Louis Varland had himself a week, chipping in with 3.2 IP of shutout baseball with five Ks mixed in.

Lowlights:
Jeff Hoffman didn’t pitch until Sunday. There wasn’t a need for a closer in any of the first five games. How much rust can accumulate in a week? He came in to face the Dodgers and forgot how to throw strikes, walking five batters and only throwing 10 strikes on 33 pitches. Thanks to Ernie Clement's homer and Fluharty’s lights-out save, Hoffman walked away with the win (despite a blown save). Is it time to reassess our Bullpen Trust-O-Meter?

Plate discipline against the Dodgers: Toronto as a team has been incredibly disciplined at the plate this season and boasts the fewest strikeouts in the league as a result. This made their 35 Ks in the series against the Dodgers all the more surprising. No one player stood out as being particularly egregious either; it was a full team effort. Still, if the Jays match up with the Dodgers again (say, in late October), this will be something to key in on. 

Random Stats of the Week:
Leo Morgenstern did an incredible job breaking down all of the team records that were set in the Colorado series, but a number of players also notched single-game personal bests across those games.

• Bo Bichette’s six RBI in the first game marked a new career high. His six ABs in the first and third games also tied his previous best.
• Ty France’s four runs scored in the third game of the series were a career high. 
• Nathan Lukes had a career-best four RBI in the third game.
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s seven ABs and four hits in the third game both tied career highs.
• Daulton Varsho’s six RBI in the second game set a new career high, and his two homers tied his best output. His 467-foot blast was also the longest of his career.
• Davis Schneider’s two home runs and four RBI both tied his career best marks. His seven ABs in the third game were a career high. 
• Ernie Clement’s five hits in the second game set his new career high. He set another in the third game with 7 ABs, a new high mark for himself.
• Joey Loperfido tied his career-high marks for singles and hits in a game with the three he had in the second game of the series. He also set a new personal best for ABs with his six in that game.
• The Blue Jays lead the AL and are second in the majors (behind LAD) with a team wRC+ of 114.
• Toronto leads the majors with 25.0 position player fWAR.
• Jeff Hoffman joins Juan Acevedo as the only pitchers in the history of baseball to pitch one inning or less, walk five batters without being tagged with an earned run and have their team get the win. Hoffman is the only player to “earn” the win themselves (Acevedo was credited with a hold).

News, Notes and Not Playing:

• Buck Martinez returned to the Blue Jays' booth for the series against the Dodgers after being away since the end of May. He revealed that he has had a recurrence of the cancer that he battled in 2022, and after calling the upcoming homestand, will be taking more time off for treatment with the aim of returning in September for Toronto’s playoff push.
• Ali Sánchez was DFA’d and ultimately picked up by Boston.
• Buddy Kennedy was called up and made his Blue Jays debut.

7-day IL: George Springer

• Springer “still has a few more boxes to tick” before he starts a full rehab assignment, as per manager John Schnieder.

10-day IL: Andrés Giménez,

• Giménez has started his Triple A rehab assignment. He stole a base and scored two runs while going 4-for-5 on the weekend. The second baseman is expected to make multiple rehab starts before coming back to the big league club.

60-day IL: Anthony Santander, Shane Bieber

• At last update, Santander still hadn’t started swinging a bat, and for the first time, there seems to be some doubt if we will see him return at all this season.
• Bieber pitched on Saturday and threw 78 pitches, scattering four hits and one walk against six strikeouts. He is expected to make at least one more rehab start before a decision is made regarding his Blue Jays debut.

Trending Storylines:
The Jays took full advantage of a golden opportunity to beat up on the worst team in the league this week, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Toronto also has the best record in the AL against teams over .500. As we march towards the playoffs, the Blue Jays will need to keep finding ways to win games against teams on both sides of that line. The Jays have run a number of different lineups (often out of necessity) and been aggressive with managing their bullpen personnel – but there are some tough decisions on the horizon before rosters expand in September, and how Toronto manages them could have ripple effects moving forward.

Looking Ahead:
The Jays get an off day on Monday and then welcome the Chicago Cubs to the Rogers Centre for a three-game set, followed by three more at home against the Texas Rangers.

The Cubs will bring Pete Crow-Armstrong with them, who has seen a lot of press this week as ‘the best defensive player in baseball’ and been heralded for his Outs Above Average and the quantity of five-star catches he’s made. Toronto has some defensive wizards of their own, and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top.

The Rangers sit third in the AL West and are 2.5 games back of a Wild Card spot. Texas has also given up the fewest earned runs in all of baseball, so the Jays' bats will have to be sharp for this series. Fortunately, the Rangers are aided by their home ballpark, which they’re not bringing with them, but they still rank bottom third (in the good way) for ERA on the road. Toronto has scored the sixth most runs at home this season, so this should make for a fun matchup. 

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