CLEVELAND -- For the Blue Jays to score another run against Gavin Williams, we might have been here all night.
This lineup facing that talent was a bad match for the Blue Jays, who lost 6-1 to the Guardians to open their biggest series of the season. The loss drops them to 2 1/2 games back of the Guardians in the AL Wild Card race and ties their season series, 2-2.
This is what mattered most:
1. Offense can’t handle Gavin Williams
September is no time to be tipping caps. Sure, Williams was absolutely dominant Tuesday night and struck out a career-high 13 -- possibly the best pitching performance the Blue Jays have seen this season -- but this team needs to find a way with the clock ticking. Even the lone run they scraped across was the result of two Guardians miscues following Kazuma Okamoto’s single in the fifth inning.
"Man, he was on,” manager John Schneider said. “That's 99-100 mph, two-seamer and four-seamer, breaking ball and sweeper. He was good. That's just a tough draw tonight through seven. A lot of swing-and-miss. He's got good stuff, but when you put command on it, too, there's outings like that."
This is where the lack of power is so clearly felt. Good luck trying to string together five base hits against Williams, but a bloop and a blast? Maybe that’s more doable, it’s just not something the Blue Jays are doing enough of.
The Blue Jays weren’t hitting Williams’ mistakes, either. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got a couple of pitches over the plate, including a heater in the top of the sixth that we’ve seen him crush before, but popped a harmless fly ball into shallow right.
“You’ve got to get a guy or two on and you’ve got to clip one,” Schneider said. “To really string three, four, five hits together in a row, you’ve really got to time it up perfectly. That’s a tough draw tonight. You’ve got to get someone on and you’ve got to hit a mistake, he just didn’t make many of them tonight.”
2. Spencer Miles is the story of 2026
Don’t let any of this become “normal.” What Spencer Miles has done this season as a Rule 5 pick with just 14 2/3 innings of experience in the lower Minors is downright baffling.
This is supposed to be the point of the season where Miles hits a wall. Whether it be workload or just the league catching up to him, this incredible season has to fade eventually, right?
No chance. Miles just keeps getting better, a testament to both his talent and the meticulous plan he and the Blue Jays have nailed. Working as the opener Tuesday, Miles touched 100.2 mph with his sinker, a new career high as he dropped his ERA to 2.88 over 84 1/3 innings.
“It was hot and humid, and I’m like a rubber band out there, a little more elastic,” Miles said. “It’s that mixed with a day off. I felt good out there. I was letting it rip.”
Schneider is running out of ways to describe it at this point.
“I view him as one of our most trusted relievers, then you can still do something like this with him,” Schneider said. “We’re kind of flying in the dark in terms of things to compare him to. I remember going back to Spring Training like, ‘Is this kid going to make it?’ To go from that to where he is right now has been phenomenal.”
Next spring, get ready for the starter conversation with Miles. If he ends this season by creeping past 90 innings, that sets him up well for 2027, even if he’d still need to be managed throughout the season.
3. Who is Spencer Arrighetti in September?
Arrighetti gave the Blue Jays 3 2/3 innings of two-run ball on 62 pitches, the damage coming on Patrick Bailey’s two-run shot. This was a step back in workload, though, after he threw 79 pitches his last time out.
“We’re kind of at an imperfect spot to build up over the next three or four start days or bulk days, if you will,” Schneider said. “As much as we can, we’ll build him up and try to build off of last time. At the same time, we’ll try to take advantage of some guys we have here, too.”
At this point, it’s possible that Arrighetti stays in this role the rest of the way, with the Blue Jays using one or two “openers” in front of him.