Schneider on Jays amid seven-game skid: ‘They’re not quitting’
Published
The Toronto Blue Jays suffered one of their worst losses of the season Monday night, squandering a 6-2 lead to the Boston Red Sox for their seventh straight defeat.
Considering how it went down, Monday’s implosion at Fenway Park was particularly painful.
An offence that has struggled all season finally broke out in the seventh inning, turning around a 2-1 deficit with a five-spot capped off by a 471-foot three-run home run from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., his longest of the season.
But the wheels came off an inning and a half later. A miscommunication from Jays infielders Addison Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa led to an infield popup falling in, which was immediately followed by a two-run Boston homer.
A pair of hits and an intentional walk loaded the bases, and Romy Gonzalez drove in the tying run with a pinch-hit, two-run single. In the ninth, a Spencer Horwitz error gave Ceddanne Rafaela first base, a balk gave him second and a Jarren Duran single to the right side gave the Red Sox the walk-off win.
“This game is cruel. This game can really beat you up. It can punch you,” manager John Schneider said via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson.
The loss dropped the Blue Jays to 35-43. They sit last in the American League East by 3.5 games and are 7.5 games out of the final AL wild-card playoff spot nearing the halfway point of the season.
Despite the bleak outlook, Schneider says the team remains united.
“Over the course of the last week, the guys are going about it the right way. They’re not quitting,” he said.
Outfielder George Springer agreed.
“We’re staying together. We’re not having fights and things like that,” he said. “We’re all in this together. There are guys working their butts off and it’s not working out for them, but we see the work every day. We just have to win.”
The schedule does not get easier for Toronto over the next stretch. After finishing things off with the Red Sox in Boston on Wednesday, the Jays will play a four-game series with the New York Yankees – the owners of the best record in the American League – followed by four games against the Houston Astros, who have won five straight and seven of their past 10.
“We’ve had our chances, but our starting pitching has had some uncharacteristic outings of late,” Schneider said after Sunday’s sweep by the Cleveland Guardians. “Kind of the story of the season is we’re not hitting as many homers as we can and we’re giving up more than we should.”
According to FanGraphs, the Blue Jays have just a 3.8 per cent chance at making the postseason.