'It happens': Toronto's late self-inflicted mistakes prove costly in finale

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays were two innings from a comfortable series win over the White Sox, who felt like the perfect opponent for Toronto to build some momentum against.

Instead, a series of late, self-inflicted mistakes from the Blue Jays’ bullpen landed them a 4-2 loss as they took just one of three from the White Sox, who sit in the American League's basement with a 25-53 record.

“Not great. Not great how it ended today, obviously,” manager John Schneider said. “I thought we played our style of game yesterday. Looking back, three bad innings to start the series and that puts you in a hole. It wasn’t for a lack of prep, lack of anything. We’re not overlooking any opponent, ever. They beat us the first night, then today we kind of had it in hand.”

That’s the tough part here. Schneider was pointing to the obvious, which was the eighth inning pitched by Brendon Little and Jeff Hoffman.

Hoffman's adventure in the 8th
Here’s the scene: Hoffman entered in the top of the eighth, an earlier assignment than we typically see for the closer to target the top of the White Sox lineup as they were already pressing. Hoffman had leadoff man Chase Meidroth in a 1-2 count, a strike away from ending the inning, but couldn’t find it.

Hoffman walked Meidroth, but had another chance to escape the inning when Andrew Benintendi rolled a slow dribbler up the first-base line. Hoffman bobbled the ball, then tumbled into a barrel roll of sorts as it continued to dance just out of his reach. This tied the game and kept the inning alive long enough for Miguel Vargas to double home two more.

Going to the closer early to target a moment of that magnitude is the right move, but it backfired. The run against Hoffman was unearned -- the other two unearned runs hung on Brendon Little, who was shaky prior to Hoffman -- but this still continues a worrying trend. Since Hoffman’s dominant March and April passed, he owns an even 9.00 ERA with 17 runs allowed over 17 innings, including seven home runs.

Making the conversation even more interesting? Yariel Rodríguez looks absolutely dominant and lowered his ERA to 2.61 with a clean, efficient inning Sunday. Schneider is still throwing his support behind Hoffman, though, and didn’t leave any doubts following the loss.

“I think he’s probably caught in-between wanting to get back to the dominant form he showed in the first month-and-a-half and being frustrated with not getting the results,” Schneider said. “It happens. We trust the [heck] out of Jeff Hoffman. I do.

"It’s easy to point blame at him. He’s been on the other side of us winning a whole lot of games. It’s a tough stretch for him, but we know he’ll come out of it and we have a lot of faith in him.

What was lost, Part I: Chris Bassitt
Bassitt was under the weather Sunday, some nagging allergies and breathing issues whipped up by a wind storm earlier in the week, he believes. Bassitt was still spectacular, though, and gave the Blue Jays six innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts.

“My legs were just shot at that point and the fourth inning did me in,” Bassitt said. “When it got to the upper-60s [pitches] and it felt like the upper-80s, I knew I didn’t want to lose us the game by trying to be a hero, so to speak, especially with Berríos and how good he threw yesterday. I was just listening to my body.

What was lost, Part II: Bo Bichette
This looks like the old Bo Bichette again, which is dangerous news for the rest of the league.

Bichette had an excellent homestand, capped by driving in both runs Sunday. For a moment, it looked like his single to bring home Alan Roden -- who had just legged out his first career triple -- would be the moment we’d all be talking about.

The turning point for Bichette has obviously been his power. Bichette didn’t hit his first home run until May 3, but now has 11 and has been driving the ball to all fields, which has long been his trademark. Yes, the Blue Jays have benefited greatly from some unexpected performances this season, but there’s no strategy in baseball better than star players playing like star players.