Blue Jays takeaways: Control goes walkabout in loss to Rays … and Ryu vs. Choi after all these years

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This article was published 23/05/2021 (1636 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on Sunday’s 6-4 Blue Jays loss to Tampa Bay in Dunedin, Fla.:

The Blue Jays were in great shape heading into the ninth inning, with Randal Grichuk’s two-run homer in the eighth having broken a tie and given them a 4-2 lead.

Tyler Chatwood, who had been brilliant out of the bullpen all season, was given the save chance with Rafael Dolis having successfully built a four-out bridge from Hyun-Jin Ryu to the final frame. In 16 previous appearances this season, Chatwood had allowed just one run in 17 innings. He’d given up only eight hits, walked just five and struck out 24. Far and away, the best reliever the Jays have had.

On Sunday afternoon, he was awful.

Brought in to face the bottom of the order, Chatwood walked the first batter he faced, then gave up a pinch-hit single to Brandon Lowe to put the tying runners on. The first out only happened because of a Gold Glove-level pick of a short-hop grounder by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first, which resulted in a force-out at second, but nine-hitter Brett Phillips followed with a run-scoring single.

Chatwood got the dangerous Randy Arozarena to fly to shallow right field for the second out, but then walked Yandy Diaz on four pitches to load the bases. After throwing 22 pitches, only nine of which were strikes, manager Charlie Montoyo came out to get him.

Had this been Ken Giles or, say, Duane Ward or Tom Henke, then it would have been the wrong move. Your closer is your closer for a reason, and you don’t take your closer out while you still have the lead. But Chatwood isn’t that. This was the first time he’d been given the ninth inning all season, and he had a terrible day.

Montoyo went with Travis Bergen to face lefty Austin Meadows, and that was the eyebrow-raising move. Bergen against a lefty is a good call, as is having Meadows face a lefty, but playing the matchup in that spot as opposed to going with your best pitcher is a dangerous game because of the three-batter rule that was instituted last season.

Meadows was followed by right-handed hitters Manuel Margot and Mike Brosseau, and while neither of them have been crushing lefties this season, they’ve both been above-average hitters against southpaws for their careers.

It wound up being academic anyway, since Bergen had even more trouble throwing strikes than Chatwood had. He couldn’t put Meadows away, and wound up walking him after three straight 3-and-2 fastballs had been fouled off, forcing in the winning run. Bergen then walked both Margot and Brosseau, scoring two more runs, before finally getting out of the inning.

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Jordan Romano, who didn’t pitch Saturday after an inning each on Thursday and Friday night, was nowhere to be seen.

• Teoscar stays hot: Teoscar Hernandez missed three weeks in April after close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 and then testing positive himself. Since returning, he’s been an absolute force to be reckoned with, including three hits Sunday.

More than piling up the hits, though, the Jays’ cleanup hitter has been driving in the runs. Hernandez got the Jays on the board in the fourth with his sixth home run of the season. After the Rays had taken the lead back in the top of the fifth, Hernandez finished off a two-out rally with a single his next time up — the Jays’ third straight hit — to score Bo Bichette and knot the game 2-2.

That gave Hernandez 22 RBIs in 22 games since coming back off the injured list. With Marcus Semien, Bichette and Guerrero hitting ahead of him, Hernandez is going to get plenty of chances to drive in runs — though Vladdy will take a bunch of those away with home runs — and he’s doing a great job taking advantage of those opportunities.

• Dongsan High forever: It was a historic moment in South Korea when Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi stepped in against Ryu in the second inning. Both attended Dongsan High School in Incheon, South Korea, though four years apart, and they had never faced each other in the major leagues.

Ryu took the first battle, getting Choi to ground out to second, but Choi got him next time with a double off the wall. In their third and final matchup, Ryu struck Choi out looking on a 3-and-2 fastball, though it probably should have been ball four. They’ll have plenty more opportunities, with the Jays and Rays meeting another 12 times after this series.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness