Fielding miscue costs the Jays dearly as they fall to the Rays

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There are a handful of games over the course of 162 that, right from the outset, don’t feel like it’s going to be your night.

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Wednesday night at Tropicana Field was one of those for the Blue Jays.

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A night after embarrassing the host Tampa Bay Rays, the Jays found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-1 deficit midway through the game.

That they would rally and make a game of it, losing 7-6, only made the loss that much tougher to stomach.

Even before a pitch was thrown, though, this one had the feel of a bad night for the Jays.

Both George Springer and Ernie Clement were not in the lineup when it was posted early in the afternoon. Springer was getting a much-needed day to rest a sore shoulder while Clement woke up feeling under the weather and was scratched from the lineup.

On top of all that, the Jays were up against a Rays squad that had ace Drew Rasmussen on the mound.

All that combined to put the Jays at a real disadvantage, but the real turning point came on a defensive play the Jays failed to make in the Rays’ five-run fourth inning that put the game decidedly in Tampa’s favour.

Jays starter Max Scherzer wasn’t quite where he had been in his two previous starts. A two run-homer from Yandy Diaz in the first put Scherzer and the Jays in an early hole.

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But it was that fourth inning that was the Jays’ ultimate undoing. Scherzer loaded the bases on a single and two walks. That brought the bulldog out in Mad Max and he responded with a strikeout to give himself a shot at getting out of the inning.

But a soft fly ball off the bat of Richie Palacios to left field, that should have been the second out of the inning, somehow was allowed to drop for a two-run double. It is the play the Jays will probably still be talking about when the two teams wrap up the series Thursday.

Jesus Sanchez will never be mistaken for an above-average outfielder. He might not even qualify for average, but whether he lost the ball in what is without question a tough park to play in, or, as was suggested on the broadcast, gave up on the ball and deferred to shortstop Andres Gimenez only Sanchez himself knows.

If it was the latter, Sanchez might have a tough time finding his way back into the lineup.

Scherzer, who wears his heart on his sleeve as much as anyone in the game, was visibly upset by the play with cameras catching him showing his displeasure. He would finish off the inning but leave with a 7-1 deficit.

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It’s obvious Sanchez is in the lineup for his bat, something that was much more justified earlier in the season. Since returning from injury, the offence has fallen off, begging he question of why he was in the lineup at all on Wednesday night. This wasn’t his first defensive misstep. Even in this game.

In the first inning, Sanchez lost Junior Caminero’s fly ball which bounced over the fence for a ground rule double, preceding Diaz’s two-run blast.

Credit the Jays for crawling back after that tough inning but that game is going to leave a mark given how this one got away from them.

MORE BAD NEWS?

The result was bad enough but there may yet be some more bad news to come from it. Brett Bateman, who joined the Jays from the Cubs in the Kevin Gausman deal, left the game in the fifth inning after appearing to tweak a hamstring as he ran out a ground ball in the third.

Bateman’s legs are a big part of his game and if that tweaked hamstring is even a little more than that, it might mean the Jays have to make do without a guy who has helped jumpstart this offence and solidified its defence in the past couple of weeks.

mganter@postmedia.com

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