TORONTO – Sometimes being unlucky is worse than being plain terrible. When you’re terrible, there’s a clear problem to fix.
“In a sense, it can be taken somewhat harder because there's no specific adjustment,” veteran reliever Sergio Romo said. “There's not one thing that you can sit there and say, ‘Hey, if we do this a little bit better, this will turn around, or maybe it'll change our luck.’”
The ghastly vibes began on the latest west coast road trip, where the Blue Jays dropped two of three to the A’s, baseball’s worst team, and then got swept in four games by the Mariners, with one of the games decided by a throw that tore through Vladimir Guerrero’s glove at first base.
“We've also been one bloop away,” Romo said, “from not just being in more ballgames, but putting teams away to where they can't even come back on us.
“Even the Philly series, in general, the ball kind of bounced our way a little bit there and we were able to beat a pretty good team.”
The Blue Jays rebounded nicely from a 2-9 stretch, sweeping two games from the Phillies, but sank back into the hole once more in a mind-numbing 3-1 loss to the Royals Friday.
The magnitude of that loss was amplified by the fact that Kansas City played without 10 players on their 26-man roster who couldn’t travel to Canada because they were unvaccinated.
It’s been such a weird stretch for Toronto, largely because, as Romo said, the Blue Jays roster is talented, but the club hasn’t performed to lofty pre-season expectations. A sharp consequence of that underperformance manifested Wednesday, with Toronto firing manager Charlie Montoyo, ending his four-year tenure in the city.
Bench coach John Schneider has taken the reigns for the remainder of the season. And Romo said one of the first things the new skipper did was vocalize his faith in this current group.
“[Schneider] has reminded us of our identity,” the 39-year-old said. “This is who we are. We can make plays. He’s set up hit-and-runs, stolen bases, and stuff like that.
“I think he's trying to maneuver his pieces into this position where they can be successful, more successful. So I think we're in a good spot. I really, really do.”
If Friday’s 8-1 win was any indication of the Blue Jays’ distinctiveness, then the club shouldn’t be too worried.
In the fourth inning, a gloriously routine double-play ball bounded towards Royals shortstop Bobby Whitt Jr. The rookie muffed the ball off his glove, allowing Alejandro Kirk and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to stick on first and second base, respectively. Teoscar Hernández parked one to deep center field for a three-run bomb two batters later.
Hernández’s blast fired up the offense, which unloaded after the Royals yanked Zack Greinke from the game. A carousel of forgettable Kansas City relievers followed, and the Blue Jays greeted them with a smattering of hits, topped off by Matt Chapman’s three-run tank in the fifth.
It’d also be impossible to scribe this contest without mentioning the heroics of Alek Manoah. The big man spun seven innings of one-run ball, needing just 83 pitches to mow through the Royals’ depleted lineup three times.
The slider was on point—as it normally is—and Manoah whiffed six Royals hitters.
"Having some good quick innings and letting that offense go back out there and do what they did tonight," Manoah said. "That's the biggest thing. Being able to throw with a seven, eight-run lead feels pretty good."
While Manoah's mind drifts towards his first All-Star appearance next week in Los Angeles, his club will be looking to channel Friday's energy going forward.
"I've told a couple guys, 'Hey, stay the course. Don't hang your head. Stay proud. Stay tough,'" Romo said. "Why? That ball's gonna bounce our way, and when that ball bounces our way, that other leg is gonna come over the side of the fence. And when we land and we catch tread, good luck catching us. Because this team's that good."
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