TORONTO -- When the boos rain down at Rogers Centre, you know that something’s really gone wrong.
It takes a lot for that to happen in Toronto, a city that’s a little more prone to polite applause than Philadelphia, New York and some of its other neighbors to the south, but this was a sign of the times and a sign of the stakes. Saturday’s loss brought the same script as Friday’s, the same reasons for worry after another great start was wiped away and forgotten.
Kevin Gausman had one of his finest days of the season, taking the baton from Shane Bieber’s great home debut the night before, but the bullpen couldn’t support either of them. A 4-1 loss in the waning days of August isn’t a crisis, even in such a meaningful series against the NL-best Brewers, but this isn’t the way a team with World Series aspirations can be losing games a month from the postseason.
Friday night, Brendon Little and Louis Varland stumbled. Saturday was Jeff Hoffman’s turn again, after allowing four runs against the Twins earlier in the week. Already a topic of daily conversation, this one clearly isn’t going away any time soon.
Hoffman took over a 1-1 game in the top of the ninth, but was taken deep by Brewers star Jackson Chourio, who returned from the IL on Saturday. The very next pitch? A Christian Yelich home run. By the time Hoffman walked out to a crowd that sat nearly dead silent, he’d given up three runs and pushed his season ERA up to 5.11. The home runs allowed were the 13th and 14th of the year against him, tying him for the most given up by a reliever this season.
“I just want to be better, honestly,” Hoffman said after the loss. “Whenever you give up a lead or it’s a tie game and you give up that go-ahead run, it obviously doesn't feel good. We’ve got a lot of guys who are trying really hard in there. You don’t want to be the guy that ruins it for everybody for the night. Tomorrow’s a new day.”
All of the pitch selections and locations have been a little different, of course, but the results are the same. Hoffman is giving up too many big blows. He doesn’t want to share the secrets to what adjustment comes next -- and it’s an adjustment he’s made successfully before -- but he’s quick to identify one of the core problems.
“I’m not throwing in enough, that’s pretty much it,” Hoffman said. “Guys are hanging all over the outside part of the plate. You’ve got to stand them up. I’ve just got to react better within the at-bat and within the count. My stuff needs to get better. My stuff has not been great, and when the stuff’s not great and the execution’s not great, that’s when you get hit. I’ll keep grinding. We’ve got another game tomorrow.”
Prior to Saturday’s game, manager John Schneider spent much of his pregame media session fielding questions about the bullpen and spoke openly about the need to find some different spots for his middle relievers and setup arms, including Varland. He also spoke about Little and the need for the gifted lefty to find the strike zone, but any conversation about a closer is bigger, more serious.
A change at closer feels like a change at quarterback in the NFL. It signals something larger, and while Schneider wasn’t willing to go there so soon after the loss, he expressed his belief in Hoffman as “a big reason why we are where we are”.
“Hoff’s got 29 saves [this season]. He’s shown that he can do it,” Schneider said. “We’ve just got to figure out -- not only him, but multiple guys in the bullpen -- strike throwing and locating. We’re going to try to make the best decision for everyone to try to win every single night. To answer your question? Yes, sure, Hoff could close tomorrow night. There’s a lot of guys that can do that.”
Lost in the fire here were seven great innings from Gausman. He’s an uncomplicated pitcher, but when his fastball and splitter dance together like this, he makes life very, very complicated for the hitters. Like Bieber a day ago, Gausman deserved the win.
Standing on the doorstep of September, the Blue Jays will need to find the answers in their own room. Schneider and the relievers know how important this is, and judging by the sound of Saturday’s sellout crowd, they know it, too.