Blue Jays series recap: Jays hit a bunch of home runs, but pitching let them down in series against Rays

What an unfortunate series that turned out to be.

The Toronto Blue Jays just wrapped up a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, dropping two of three to bring their season record to 21-22. They’ve now lost six of their last eight series.

Tuesday’s game was a back-and-forth affair, with the Blue Jays getting a huge, three-run blast from Daulton Varsho in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead. However, the Rays answered with five runs in the top of the ninth, and despite a rally attempt, the Jays fell 11-9.

It’s not often you can say the bats were cold lately, but that was the case on Wednesday. The good news is that pitching did well, giving up just one earned run in a 3-1 victory. All three runs came with one swing of the bat from Alejandro Kirk, hitting a 0-2 pitch with two outs. That’s some good clutch hitting from the Jays’ catcher.

In the rubber match on Thursday, the Jays hit three home runs, a positive sign. It was the pitching that let them down, as the Jays fell 8-3, with Kevin Gausman giving up six earned runs in the start.

Seven of the 12 players with a plate appearance hit a home run in this series. Varsho went deep twice for a wRC+ of 275. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (309 wRC+), Bo Bichette (265 wRC+), Nathan Lukes (174 wRC+), Ernie Clement (153 wRC+), Alejandro Kirk (143 wRC+), and Addison Barger (72 wRC+) all hit a home run.

Myles Straw and Tyler Heineman each had a good series at the plate, finishing with a 186 and 261 wRC+, respectively. George Springer had a tough series, slashing .091/.231/.182 for a 27 wRC+. It wasn’t as bad as Anthony Santander’s series, though, as the outfielder slashed .083/.154/.083. He needs to get going.

Braydon Fisher, Yimi Garcia, Yariel Rodriguez, Brendon Little, and Chad Green all pitched scoreless outings, with Fisher getting the most work out of the pen. In the 2.2 innings Fisher had thrown in the series, he posted a 62.5 K%. Jeff Hoffman’s blowup on Tuesday left him with a 135 ERA, ballooning his season ERA to over six. Mason Fluharty started his career getting the first 28 batters out, but that streak was snapped with a Danny Jansen home run.

Chris Bassitt had a good start, pitching five and two-thirds innings with one earned run allowed and six strikeouts. The same can’t be said for Gausman and Jose Berrios. Gausman threw the same number of innings but allowed six runs in the process, giving up three home runs. Berrios pitched five and one-third innings, with four strikeouts and five earned runs allowed. The starting pitching has to be better.

This weekend, the Jays host the Tigers for a three-game series. After getting hot to end last season, the Tigers have been playing terrific baseball, with a Major League Baseball-leading 29-15 record. They’re 8-2 in their last 10 and are on a three-game winning streak.