Blue Jays scuffle as injuries mount

As the Blue Jays deal with an early avalanche of injuries in April, one or two players are often tasked with winning that night’s game all by themselves.

Many nights, that’s been Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who’s off to a tremendous start in 2021 and reaching the sky-high expectations set for him years ago. On nights like Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Red Sox, though, when one star falters, that plan isn’t very sustainable.

Hyun Jin Ryu pitched brilliantly for the first three innings, needing just 29 pitches to breeze through the Red Sox's lineup. Really, Ryu had to record 10 outs on those 29 pitches after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. misplayed a Xander Bogaerts fly ball into a double. The fourth and fifth weren’t nearly as kind to the Blue Jays’ ace, though, as Bogaerts launched a three-run home run over the Green Monster.

The one signal of trouble was that Ryu’s fastball velocity was down, averaging just 88.7 mph, which forced him to use his great changeup more often than normal. Ryu is no flamethrower and typically finds great success sitting around 90 mph, but like so much else in this game, it’s a fine line for the lefty to walk.

“If there are ups, there are going to be downs,” Ryu said through a team interpreter. “I understand that we’ve lost our last three games, but that’s part of our season. Once our hitters and our pitchers get into the right balance, I feel like we’re going to get back on a roll.”

Allowing four runs over five innings is an outlier for Ryu, typically one of the game’s steadiest starters. It will happen, though, and when it does, the Blue Jays need to be able to pick up their ace once or twice along the way. That’s exactly what they’ve had trouble doing in April, though, given their top-heavy offensive approach. It’s early, but these games matter.

“I do think April is really important. You don’t ever want to lose games in April. They count the same as September,” said Marcus Semien, who’s now hitting .174. “But there’s just a rhythm to the season where some guys start off a little cooler. It’s going to happen, and we’re going to hit slumps -- it just looks a lot worse when it’s in April. I’m sure you hear that a lot but hopefully, in the next couple of weeks or sooner, we don’t have to talk about that.”

On Tuesday, Bo Bichette and Randal Grichuk led the way. Bichette launched a solo home run high over the Monster early and, in the sixth, Grichuk did his best impression of the same. Otherwise, all the Blue Jays’ offense had to show was an infield single by Bichette, which was a bang-bang play overturned on review, and a walk from Guerrero. With that offensive output, the only path to victory for the Blue Jays was Ryu being at his very best.

“We all know that they can do better, they’re just not doing it right now,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “Like I always say, hitting is contagious, and right now, when you don’t hit, everybody feels the pressure. For sure -- these last couple of games -- that’s what it looks like.”

The main problem facing this lineup -- beyond its performance -- is the lack of options beyond it. George Springer and Teoscar Hernández are both on the IL, and their upcoming returns will help a great deal, but the Blue Jays need more than that. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Cavan Biggio, Danny Jansen, Rowdy Tellez and Semien are all regulars off to unexpectedly poor starts, so the Blue Jays need those lines to turn around as well.

This also makes juggling the lineup difficult for Montoyo, as there aren’t many opportunities to send a message or spark the group.

“The guys in the bottom of the lineup are struggling too,” Montoyo said. “So if you’re going to bring guys up that are struggling, there’s not anybody really hot right now. It’s [the] whole lineup struggling. Of course, Vladdy is doing well. Bo and Grichuk have done well, but the rest of the guys are struggling.”