Blue Jays takeaways: There’s no relief in Baltimore as Trent Thornton lets game slip away

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This article was published 06/07/2021 (1596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 7-5 loss in Baltimore on Tuesday:

Steven Matz left Tuesday night’s game in the fifth inning after giving up his second two-run homer of the night, and Blue Jays skipper Charlie Montoyo turned to Trent Thornton to provide some long relief in an attempt to hold the fort and give the big bats a chance to come back.

It didn’t work out.

Facing the meat of the Baltimore order, such as it is, the right-hander struck out the first batter he faced, but followed it up by giving up a single and a double, threw a wild pitch that scored a run, then allowed a 413-foot bomb by Anthony Santander that landed on Eutaw Street.

Four batters faced and the Orioles were a triple shy of the cycle against Thornton, having turned a 4-1 lead to 7-1, basically putting the game away.

The 27-year-old worked himself into a trusted position in the bullpen early in the season, posting a 2.49 ERA through the end of May, but Tuesday night’s blow-up was the fourth time he has given up two runs or more over the course of his last eight outings.

Thornton took the loss on June 8 in Chicago, starting the seventh inning in a 1-1 tie and immediately loading the bases on two singles and a walk, then giving up a go-ahead sac fly before getting replaced. Since then, he has posted an ugly 11.57 ERA, allowing 19 base runners over 9 1/3 innings. Five of the 15 hits he has allowed have left the yard.

The third-year Jay was a rotation stalwart in his rookie season of 2019, but hasn’t been able to successfully transition into a reliable long reliever, something that, although the starting pitching has improved drastically over the past six weeks, the Jays could really use.

With Trevor Richards just acquired from Milwaukee, a roster move is coming, and someone in the bullpen is going to wind up in Triple-A very soon. Right now, Thornton is the guy in the crosshairs.

• A handsome homer: Even in a blowout loss, Randal Grichuk loves facing the Orioles. He belted his 16th home run of the season leading off the seventh inning, and while it only cut the Blue Jays’ deficit to five runs, it added to some extraordinary numbers.

The home run was Grichuk’s 21st against Baltimore, in only his 44th start against them. In 202 career plate appearances against the O’s, he’s driven in an astonishing 52 runs, a pace for about 180 RBIs over a full season.

Grichuk has also smacked 18 doubles and a triple when facing Baltimore, giving him a .772 slugging percentage against them. That’s the highest slugging percentage for anyone against the Orioles. Ever.

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• Fine bit of business: The Jays traded Rowdy Tellez to the Milwaukee Brewers for Richards, who will join the big-league bullpen, and Bowden Francis, who will provide minor-league pitching depth for now.

Tellez, who was optioned to Triple-A last month, didn’t become what the Jays hoped he would be, and Corey Dickerson, picked up last week in a trade with Miami, is the better left-handed bat.

Acquiring Dickerson, currently on the injured list with a bruised foot, made Tellez dispensable, so the Jays were able to move him for a needed bullpen arm. Richards has a 1.14 WHIP this season with 41 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings.

So essentially, over the past week, the Jays traded utilityman Joe Panik and 37th-rounder Andrew McInvale for two very good relief arms in Adam Cimber and Richards, upgraded Tellez to Dickerson and also picked up Francis.

Maybe not the moves that will put the team over the top, but Cimber and Richards are two significant bullpen adds at a cost of not much at all.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness