Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Curtis Granderson is tagged out at home by Los Angeles Angels catcher Martin Maldonado during the ninth inning of a game at the Rogers Centre, in Toronto, on May 23, 2018.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Tyler Clippard is in a bit of a funk when it comes to his role as the unofficial closer during the continued absence of Roberto Osuna and that can’t be good news for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Clippard blew apart in the top of the ninth inning on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre after being handed a two-run lead, allowing Los Angeles to storm back for four runs in what ultimately proved to be a hard-to-swallow 5-4 Angels victory over the Blue Jays.
Clippard, who has been a welcome addition to the Blue Jays bullpen this season, has been shakey of late, absorbing his second blown save in less than a week.
Entering the game with a 5-3 lead, Clippard proceeded to walk the bases loaded before surrendering a two-run single off the bat of Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani, that knotted the score.
Adrelton Simmons then followed with another single that scored two more runs that turned the game in L.A.’s favor.
“Just not executing when I needed to,” Clippard said of his control issues. “I got into some 3-2 counts, felt like I needed to be a little more aggressive in the zone. They fought off some good pitches, took some tough pitches. But just ultimately just didn’t make the pitches when I needed to.”
Clippard was asked what will be key for him to bouncing back from such a nightmarish outing?
“Just forget about it,” he said with a rueful chuckle. “I mean, these are tough. You had two tough losses here in a short period of time, you just got to move on.”
With the win, the Angels (27-22) levelled the three-game series against the Blue Jays (23-26) at 1-1 with the rubber to be played on Thursday afternoon.
Toronto manager John Gibbons was not about to denounce his bullpen that may finally be starting to feel the affects of the continued absence of closer Roberto Osuna.
Major Leauge Baseball has placed the Toronto closer on administrative leave after he was charged with assault by police during an incident in Toronto earlier this month.
“I don’t want to overeact to one game,” Gibbons said. “It was a tough game, it was an ugly game. Those guys [in the bullpen] have been pretty good, we’re missing a big piece, everybody’s in a different slot. And some guys aren’t throwing over the plate.
“Those guys have been great all year and they’ll bounce back.”
Actually , Toronto almost did that – bounce back in the bottom of the ninth with Blake Parker on the mound for the Angels.
With runners at second and third, pinch-hitter Kendrys Morales hit a long drive to deep centre that appeared for a moment to have enough legs to clear the wall for a three-run home run that would have lifted Toronto to a riveting walk-off win.
Instead, the ball struck off the wall about half way up and Dwight Smith Jr. scored from third to cut the lead to 5-4. Curtis Granderson, who was unsure if the ball would be caught or not, could only to third from second on the play.
Teoscar Hernandez was the next Toronto batter, still with nobody out, and he lifted a fly ball deep enough to right field for Granderson to tag up to try and score.
Kole Calhoun made the catch for the first out and then roped a throw home to Martin Maldonado who applied the tag on the sliding Granderson for a double play and prevent the tying run from crossing.
After Josh Donaldson was given an intentional pass, Justin Smoak struck out to end the mayhem.
After two so-so outings, Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez was marginally better, but still only lasted five innings, holding the Angels to no runs and just two hits. His troubling five walks pushed his pitch count to 97 early.
Without commenting on the work of home plate umpire Mark Wegner, Sanchez was clearly a bit miffed by the size of the strike zone.
“Actually I wasn’t too bad with them [the walks],” Sanchez said. “I went back and watched and there’s a couple that could have gone either way. Main thing is a competitive loss. You guys can say whatever you want about it.
“Like I said, I went back and checked. There’s a couple ones – 2-2 to [Mike] Trout was right down the middle and I ended up walking him. It is what it is. The dome’s open a little bit and my stuff was running off and on the plate all night. It’s just getting back to harnessing all that stuff out.”