SAN DIEGO — A game that went off the rails early ended in even more disappointment for the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.
In between, they rallied behind a pair of game-changing home runs from Jonathan Clase and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but the end result was another 45-50 loss for the Blue Jays, who now trail the Mariners by 1.5 games for third place in the American League but fourth in the AL East behind the surging Red Sox.
Starter Trey Yesavage was as wild as he’s ever been in the majors, walking the first three hitters he faced, but Padres starter Walker Buehler was just as ineffective, walking four Blue Jays and allowing four early runs to allow the visitors to get back into the game.
The Padres got off to such a bad start that the crowd of 40,561 spent much of the start of the game booing their team. If this game had been played in Toronto, Blue Jays fans would have had plenty of reasons to boo as well.
The boos turned to cheers as the Padres took a 7-4 lead, but Guerrero Jr. tied the game with a three-run homer in the sixth inning, his sixth of the season and second in the last three games.
“It’s a good sign,” manager John Schneider said. “There have been some encouraging signs with him—encouraging signs with a lot of guys, actually—but this is what he can do.”
Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, former teammate Ty France walked Mason Fluharty deep in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Padres a one-run lead. That was often enough in San Diego, as the late-inning duo of Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller kept the Blue Jays from getting back into the game, leading to an 8-7 Padres victory.
Luis Urias’ single against Morejon provided some hope in the top of the eighth, but Claeys was unable to beat the fiery left-hander and the potential rally soon fell apart.
One inning later, Nathan Lux led off with a single against Miller, and George Springer sent a ball to center for a potential out-of-base hit, only to see Jackson Merrill hit it. One batter later, Kazuma Okamoto struck out to end the game.
“Their backend is good,” Schneider said. “George knocked the ball out.”
“We had our chances and I like the way we fought back. It’s hard to stand there and watch seven plays and then come and score four and then do it again with Vlad’s shot. There’s a lot of encouraging things going on offensively, but yeah, you have to take advantage of it.”
However, the story of this game revolves around Yesavage. Simply put, the right-handed rookie couldn’t find the zone. Of the 59 pitches he threw, only 20 were strikes. He walked 12 of the 13 hitters he faced, slowing the pace of the game to a crawl as he went Padre after Padre.
“I just never really felt anything,” Schneider said. “Never got into a rhythm.”
Yesavage subsequently said that his problems with command arose due to a mechanical problem. Specifically, he had poor posture, an issue he worked on in-game with pitching coach Pete Walker.
“Just leaned back too much,” Yesavage said. “It causes everything to go haywire and open up.”
Overall, he set a career high by walking seven hitters and was charged with four earned runs. He allowed only one hit, largely because so few pitches were close enough to tempt the Padres to swing.
This isn’t the first time Yesavage has had trouble staying in the strike zone. Over the last six weeks he has started with five, six and seven walks. However, the control issues were more pronounced this time around, as his previous career high in hits in a start was 42, more than double what he hit on Saturday.
“We’ve been working on this for the last few weeks,” Yesavage said. “Fine-tuning the mechanics and just getting into the zone more. But that just didn’t happen today.”
When the second half begins next weekend, the Blue Jays will rely on Yesavage to find ways to attack the strike zone much more consistently.
“He’ll have some time during the break to fix it and get back to what he’s good at,” Schneider said. “I’m sure he’ll make some adjustments down the line and get back into the attack.”
Keep in mind, Yesavage isn’t the only one who doesn’t throw punches. As a full-time roster, the Blue Jays ranked 30th among 30 MLB teams in zone percentage entering the game on Saturday.
With Yesavage’s shortened outing, the Blue Jays needed to cover 6.1 innings with Adam Mako, Braydon Fisher, Fluharty and Spencer Miles. As a collective, they persevered, allowing a total of three runs to keep the game within reach.
Afterwards, Schneider suggested that players like Fluharty could choose better pitches—specifically, that they could trust catcher Alejandro Kirk more rather than shake him off.
“You learn from it later on,” Schneider said. “These extra runs make it a little more difficult.”
Sunday’s finale at Petco Park will also be the final game before the All-Star break for the Blue Jays, who will look to win the series with Kevin Gausman on the mound opposite Germán Márquez.