TORONTO — Through 7 1/3 innings, the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup could do nothing against Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Tyler Alexander, who carried a perfect game into the eighth inning Friday night at the Rogers Centre.
Down 4-0 and with one out in the eighth, though, catcher Danny Jansen hit a blooper — the ball came off his bat at 68.3 mph — that dropped in shallow right field, ending the unlikely bid for perfection from a lefty the Rays claimed off waivers last fall.
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Jansen’s single was a relief for the Blue Jays, who were previously no-hit this season by Houston Astros starter Ronel Blanco on April 1.
Davis Schneider followed Jansen’s base hit with a two-run home run and the Blue Jays went on to score three in the inning before George Springer hit into a rally-ending double play, but that would be as close as it got as the Blue Jays lost 4-3 to the Rays in the series opener.
Perfect-Perfect swing pic.twitter.com/GHc82njdZq
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 18, 2024
“I think early in the game, we missed pitches to hit. And as the game went on, I think (Alexander) got better. He was really locating in and out, up, down, so give him credit,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Then the game can snowball a little bit, but to the guys’ credit you come back — bleeder, homer, and you get a little momentum there, but he made good pitches in the middle part of the game.”
It was yet another game where the Blue Jays’ offence looked outmatched and wasted a strong effort from starter Chris Bassitt, who allowed three runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Two errors from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. only helped the Rays score, too.
Bassitt offered one word when asked to assess where the Blue Jays are right now: “Struggling.”
Indeed, there are many areas the Blue Jays need to improve offensively, but hitting for power remains chief among them. Toronto is tied for 26th in home runs with 36. Only two teams have hit fewer homers than Toronto — the Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox.
The Blue Jays’ sagging offence is a two-year trend, and the long ball — or lack thereof — isn’t a new problem. During the 2023 season, the Blue Jays finished 14th in runs scored (746) and 16th in home runs (188). Their .745 OPS ranked 11th.
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The Blue Jays manager was hesitant to use the term “home runs” or even “damage” — a word he said he has admittedly worn out — but instead said the staff is looking for the Blue Jays to focus on just hitting the ball harder.
“I think especially in at-bats that have less than two strikes, we need to hit the ball harder. I think we do a good job of putting it in play with two strikes. Again, those numbers are pretty high amongst the league average,” Schneider said. “But until you have two strikes, I think we just are really focused on hitting the ball hard or harder than we have. Whether or not that leads to home runs, great, but I think you have to do more with the pitches that we’re offering at, especially before two strikes.”
Looking at this year’s lineup, it’s easy to see why there has been a “damage” drought in Toronto. Daulton Varsho leads the team with seven home runs, Davis Schneider has five, then three guys are tied with four. Bo Bichette has two in 40 games played, though he’s been making noticeably harder contact lately and the manager expects power to come soon. Springer has three home runs, but two came during the opening weekend. Through 39 games, Springer is now hitting .196/.271/.288, though he remains the club’s leadoff hitter for now.
“When George is good, he’s getting the ball in the air a little bit more,” John Schneider said. “(That’s) probably just facts, but you got to keep plugging, you got to keep grinding away, but I’m encouraged with what Bo and Vlad are doing, for sure.”
For context, the Baltimore Orioles lead MLB with 65 home runs and have eight batters with five home runs or more, led by 13 from shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who is off to an MVP-like start to his season.
“We’ve talked about swing decisions for like three years now and if you look it up, I think we’re top five in baseball in terms of what we’re swinging at and (we’re) on the lower end on what we’re doing with those pitches,” John Schneider said. “That’s where our focus has shifted, or it has shifted to before the year started. So just waiting for that to hopefully even out a little bit.”
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It’s no wonder Schneider identified that the Blue Jays need to hit the ball harder. Before Friday’s game, they ranked last in average exit velocity (87.7 mph) and 27th in hard-hit percentage (36.2 percent). Only one team had fewer balls hit at 95 mph or harder than the Blue Jays’ 388 and it’s the lowly White Sox, who have 387.
While the Blue Jays can aspire to hit the ball harder, some of it comes down to the limitations of the personnel on the roster. In recently made-public data by Statcast, the Blue Jays ranked 30th in average bat speed at 70 mph. The MLB average is 72 mph. As The Athletic’s Eno Sarris detailed, bat speed isn’t everything — a hitter needs contact ability, barrel control and strike-zone awareness as well — but it’s an important tool in a hitter’s toolbox. As physicist Alan Nathan told The Athletic, “Bat speed affects exit velocity” and generally, more bat speed correlates to more power.
Can the Blue Jays improve their bat speed? Schneider said he believes so — to a degree.
“There’s always room to get better. I think that’s our job as a staff to try to get incrementally better,” the Blue Jays manager said. “But you also know who players are really at this level, too, so trying to put them in spots (to succeed) or whether it’s trying to maneuver some small ball a little bit if you have to.”
Today’s pitching is too good for teams to rely solely on stringing hits together. Scoring a run or more with one swing of the bat is more efficient — as the Rays did in the sixth inning when they padded their 1-0 lead to 3-0 after second baseman Richie Palacios homered off Bassitt.
But whether the Blue Jays are deploying the long ball or small ball, they’re not getting enough of either, and it’s making nights like Friday too common.
“We’ve been saying we need the offence to be a little bit more consistent,” Schneider said. “But again, love what they did late.”
Unfortunately, as has been the case a lot this year, it was too little, too late for the Blue Jays.
(Photo of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: Christopher Katsarov / The Canadian Press via Associated Press)