Ninety feet, one dropped throw, and a season inching sideways
Toronto led at Rogers Centre on Tuesday. Toronto lost 6-5. In between sat one throw that nobody could quite get their hands on. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dove to his right, fielded a ball that might have belonged to second baseman Ernie Clement, and fired long to first. Reliever Louis Varland could not squeeze it. Zach McKinstry scored from second, and the opener of a three-game series was gone.
“That play, from first base to the pitcher, is always tricky. I thought Vlad made a good throw. We just didn’t execute it,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
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Jose Soriano was five outs from history and then lost the seventh
It stings more because of how the night started. Soriano carried a perfect game through five and still had the no-hitter breathing in the seventh. Then the inning came apart. Four runs, a 4-2 Detroit lead, and a starter walking off with nothing to show. Kazuma Okamoto’s three-run shot in the bottom half handed Toronto the lead straight back.
The damage was done somewhere quieter. Bases loaded in the second, nothing. Bases loaded in the third, nothing. Two for eleven with runners in scoring position, eight men stranded. Teams get away with that in May. Not on 15 September.
Cleveland still has the door held open by one game
Toronto sits at 75-76, under .500 with a fortnight of the regular season left. Cleveland lost 7-3 to the White Sox on the same night and kept a one-game cushion for the American League’s third wild-card spot. The Blue Jays were handed the opening and could not walk through it. Detroit, 71-79 and theoretically finished, keeps refusing to behave like it.
“That was a gutsy win,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, after starter Troy Melton lasted two and two-thirds and forced five relievers into the game.
Varland threw 31 pitches and may not be available tonight. Drew Anderson (4-6, 3.80 ERA) goes for Detroit. Braydon Fisher (3-4, 3.22) is lined up for Toronto, carrying a 1-0 record and a 1.69 ERA across five career appearances against the Tigers.
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