June has not been kind to the Toronto Blue Jays, with a 8-11 record, 23rd in the league for the month and have now drop five straight games in a row in a 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
It’s the second time the Jays have lost five consecutive games this season, the first time was between April 23 to April 27, dropping three games to the Kansas City Royals, then losing two to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Toronto SP has been struggling this week, and that trend continued as SP José Berríos allowed five earned runs over 5.0 innings pitched. Berríos has been lit up in his last four starts, giving up a combined 14 runs in his last 22.2 innings.
Cleveland got to Berríos with the long ball, as Canadian Bo Naylor hit a two-run homer to put the Guardians ahead, 2-1, in the second inning. José Ramírez, a franchise staple in Cleveland, hit another two-run home run, giving Cleveland a 4-2 lead in the third.
Steven Kwan, a potential MVP candidate in the American League, mashed a ball to right field as all five runs Berríos allowed left the yard, as Cleveland was up 5-2 now in the fifth. Kwan is now hitting .390 on the year with a .1013 OPS.
Toronto was down by three runs and the final nail in the coffin was Daniel Schneemann hitting yet another home run for the Guardians in the sixth inning, put Cleveland up four and Toronto never mounted any comeback.
Toronto’s lineup flexed their power in the game, hitting three home runs between Isiah-Kiner Falefa and Davis Schneider, problem was, all of the home runs were solo shots, and Toronto only had four hits in the entire game.
Davis Schneider hit a home run off Guardians SP Ben Lively in the second inning for the first run by both teams in the game. Lively faced Toronto last Sunday, allowing four earned runs over 6.0 innings.
Isiah-Kiner Falefa hit his own home run against Lively in the third inning, his first of two in the game. Kiner-Falefa, later in the eighth inning, homered off Scott Barlow for his first career multi-HR game.
Lively was able to weave through Toronto’s lineup in his second start facing them, going 5.2 innings and surrendering just two earned runs. Lively has only given up three earned runs or less in all (11 starts), but one so far this season, that being his previous one in Toronto.
Toronto has now lost back-to-back series for the first time since April 27th, the same date they lost five games in a row. Currently, the ball club is 35-41 and 6.0 games out of a playoff spot.
Some other bad news for Toronto: during the ninth inning, Daulton Varsho seemed to sustain a back injury while swinging. Jays Manager John Schneider said Varsho’s back locked up and that he won’t be in tomorrow’s lineup.
Toronto is hoping to not be swept again and go 0-6 this week, but there isn’t much optimism right now.
