HOUSTON -- It was all going so well until manager John Schneider and the Blue Jays’ trainer bolted from the dugout before the bottom of the third inning.
Once Trey Yesavage left the game early with left knee discomfort, the Blue Jays quickly crumbled against a stronger Astros team and lost, 7-2, to fall to 53-61.
“Trey felt a little pinch there in his left knee on his first couple of warmup pitches in the third,” Schneider said. “He said he was OK, but we’re not taking any chances. He’s going to get an MRI tomorrow, and we’ll see where we’re at.”
This is what mattered most:
1. Yesavage’s injury led to a long night
When you’re planning on six-plus innings out of your starter and only get two, it’s not going to be a good night.
Chad Dallas looked sharp early on, but the Astros eventually got to him, and Taylor Trammell broke the game open with a three-run shot in the fifth. This was a difficult outing for Dallas, but given the openings in Toronto’s bullpen, he should continue to see plenty of innings down the stretch.
“I thought he threw the ball well. He picked us up exactly how we needed him to with Trey coming out early,” Schneider said. “It was a lot to ask of him, throwing that many pitches. He’s done that before, but I think it was a couple of weird plays with two outs there in the fourth that led to the first runs.”
Early setbacks and early deficits just further highlight this offense’s struggles, too. The Blue Jays are the lowest-scoring team in baseball this season, and unless something changes quickly, they’re not built to come from behind.
2. What’s gotten into Myles Straw?
Straw ripped a double off the wall in left field, then followed that with a triple into the gap, one of his best offensive days of the season. This comes after a double and a stolen base in a two-hit day in the opener.
Straw is always one of the first on the field for early batting practice each afternoon, and if you watch those sessions, there’s some real pop in Straw’s swing. More than you’d expect from someone with 13 home runs over 800 career games, at least, as he’s put an emphasis on swinging harder over the past year.
He’ll have plenty of playing time in center now after Daulton Varsho was dealt to the Astros, and Schneider is looking to Straw to help keep the clubhouse together after the Trade Deadline upheaval.
“I always say it takes time for a personality to come in and feel like they’ve been here,” Schneider said. “Some of the guys we brought in have an immediate presence. It’s an opportunity for guys who have been here to take a step forward. We’re talking about guys that have done it like George [Springer] and Vlad[imir Guerrero Jr.]. It’s an opportunity for Ernie Clement, [Alejandro] Kirk, Myles. I always say that Myles is a bit of the behind-the-scenes glue guy. It’s different. It takes time to feel that out.”
3. Jameson Taillon getting a shot in the Blue Jays’ rotation
Before the game, Schneider shared that they’d be moving to a six-man rotation, allowing Taillon to join the group instead of pitching in a bulk role.
Well, that lasted two innings until Yesavage’s injury, but Taillon’s role remains. Taillon met with the media for the first time since the trade pregame Tuesday, an engaging and thoughtful session about his struggles with the Cubs in 2026 and what he hopes to change.
“I’ve given up a lot of home runs this year,” Taillon said. “Mental-game wise, I got to a point where I was pitching timid, and that’s not me. I was just thinking about the worst-case scenario sometimes. I’d want to get ahead, but I didn’t want to leak it towards the middle and give up another home run. I was out there with those thoughts, and that’s just a horrible place to be. That’s the human side. Getting to take a step back and take a fresh start, I want to get back to who I am. That’s filling up the zone with six pitches and being super aggressive.”
The Blue Jays had serious interest in Taillon four years ago when he was a free agent. If he can get back on track in August and September, perhaps that interest is rekindled to fill a short-term need in 2027.