Blue Jays quick to jump ahead, struggling to finish what they start

CLEVELAND -- Once again, the Blue Jays found a way to scratch across a run or more early in the midst of a nearly team-wide hitting scuffle. Once again, they fell short.

As the team’s stretch of 20 games in 20 days came to a close on Sunday afternoon, Toronto dropped its four-game series to the Guardians in a 4-3 decision at Progressive Field. The Blue Jays took only one win in the set despite striking first in all four contests.

If the Blue Jays want to turn things around entering some key divisional sets against the Yankees and Rays next week, they’re going to need to finish how they’ve started.

Sunday’s game started with two quick runs. A leadoff double by George Springer was followed by a walk from Bo Bichette and a single from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to load the bases with no outs. Teoscar Hernández's two-run single was all the Blue Jays could muster.

The first-inning outburst matches the energy the Blue Jays have brought to every opening frame throughout the series. Their offense went 8-for-19 (.421) in the first inning this weekend, putting up five runs, but they went 19-for-111 (.171) from the second inning on. Three of those later hits came in a four-run second inning of their lone win in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader, the only contest in which they didn’t score in the first.

“That was important in this game,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “It felt like that was our chance to get going in this game offensively, and we didn’t do it. Of course, it caught up with us at the end of the day.”

The offense isn’t the only portion of the team that needs to be more consistent, though. The bullpen entered Sunday’s series finale with a 4.07 ERA, ranked 23rd in MLB. The final game saw that ERA grow to 4.12, as two of Toronto’s reliable relievers had hiccups in their strong seasons.

Tim Mayza, who had a 0.93 ERA in 11 games, allowed a game-tying home run to Owen Miller in the eighth inning. Then, Adam Cimber (2.19 ERA in 12 games) gave up a single, a walk then an RBI single hit by Oscar Mercado, which gave the Guardians their winning run.

“It’s tough to come in in one-run games,” Montoyo explained. “They’re human. They’re going to give up runs once in a while, and we’re talking about one run. It’s not like they’re coming in and giving up three or four and the game is over. So you know it’s going to happen.”

The grind the Blue Jays have been on to get through this tough stretch of games to open the season didn’t get any easier on Sunday. Alek Manoah, who gave up two runs on five hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings, said he felt the baseballs were hard to grip, as if they were “right out of a box,” but he didn’t want to make any excuses for not coming away with a win.

“You can’t do anything. You can’t call time or get a new bucket of balls -- you’ve just got to go attack,” Manoah explained. “One of those days where you’ve got to find a way to breathe, stay within myself and try to give the team a win.”

Despite the obstacles, the Blue Jays have put themselves in position to win time and time again, but they’ve come up short more often than not in the past three series (4-6). Still, the team has completed a stretch of 30 games in 31 days to begin the season with a 17-13 record, and Montoyo is pleased with where things are at.

If the Blue Jays can begin to finish how they’ve started -- both the season and the games this past series – they will be in a good spot to get back toward the top of the American League East standings.

“To be over .500 in this grind, I’m proud of my team, and we haven’t clicked hitting yet,” Montoyo said. “So we’re proud of our offense, our pitching and we’re going to hit. You guys know we’re going to hit.”