ST. PETERSBURG -- Jesús Sánchez sat at his locker inside Tropicana Field on Thursday morning and took full accountability for his two outfield mistakes that proved very costly in the Blue Jays’ 7-6 loss to the Rays the night before.
There was the high fly ball that evaded his glove in the first inning. There was the low, soft liner that he lost in the fourth inning. Both miscues contributed directly or indirectly to all of Tampa Bay’s seven runs.
“No excuses,” Sánchez said. “That's the two balls that I need to make the catch [on], and I [missed] it. Something happened.”
OK, so what exactly happened?
On the first play, Sánchez said that Junior Caminero’s fly ball down the left-field line flew over one of the stadium’s catwalks, and Sánchez briefly lost sight of the ball. From there, he had trouble finding the ball against the Trop’s white roof. It ultimately landed away from his outstretched glove and bounced over the short wall for a ground-rule double.
“That’s going to be difficult and everything, so the only thing I need to do is go through and catch the ball,” Sánchez said.
On Richie Palacios’ fly ball into shallow left field, Sánchez said he initially saw the ball coming at him. Then the lights got into his eyes.
“When I made the first step, the light [got] into my eyes, and I just looked at [shortstop Andrés Giménez] … because I knew I was losing the ball,” Sánchez said. “That's a ball [that’s] easy to catch, and I missed [trying] to catch it.”
Manager John Schneider was supportive of the left fielder because he knows how much he works on being a better defensive player. And Sánchez was adamant that he is putting in the work to get a better first step to fly balls and take better angles while playing in left field, which is not as familiar to him as right field.
“I'm working hard on my defense to improve and get better,” he said. “And I know I'm going to get better.”
Vlad Jr. to play in rehab game
It appears more and more like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be activated from the seven-day concussion injured list when he is first eligible ahead of Saturday’s game against the Yankees.
But before Guerrero plays in the Bronx, he is going to play in Clearwater, Fla. Manager John Schneider said Thursday that Guerrero has been cleared to play in a Minor League game, and he will be the designated hitter for Single-A Dunedin in its game tonight versus the Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies’ Single-A affiliate. It will be Guerrero’s first game action since he suffered a concussion following a collision with Yankees infielder George Lombard Jr. on Aug. 14 at Rogers Centre.
“See how it goes today, and hopefully Saturday, he can be back with us,” Schneider said.