The Blue Jays’ four-game winning streak came to an end Sunday afternoon with a 6-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals, dropping Toronto back to .500 at 72-72. The Jays still took two of three in Kansas City and are 4-2 on their current road trip, but with just 18 games remaining, every missed opportunity is becoming more costly.
On game 145 preview of Flight Deck, Nick Alberga breaks down Toronto’s disappointing series finale against the Royals. Spencer Arrighetti surrendered six runs over 4.2 innings, including home runs to Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez, while the offence managed just one run despite collecting eight hits. Josh Smith provided the only offence with a solo home run, while Brett Bateman continued his strong stretch with three more hits.
But Toronto has already received some help today. Cleveland fell 6-4 to Baltimore, meaning the Blue Jays enter tonight just half a game behind the Guardians for the final AL Wild Card spot. Toronto owns the season-series tiebreaker over Cleveland, so a win tonight would move the Jays level in the standings and back into playoff position.
Nick will also look at just how important this upcoming stretch is for a Blue Jays team that has won three consecutive series and fought all the way back into the postseason race. After spending much of the summer well below .500, Toronto now controls much more of its own destiny with three weeks remaining.
Looking ahead, Dylan Cease takes the mound as Toronto opens a three-game series against the Athletics in Sacramento. Cease enters at 10-5 with a 2.25 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 221 strikeouts. He’s also coming off six scoreless innings against Cleveland and hasn’t lost since July 20, going 4-0 with a 1.38 ERA over his last eight starts.
The Athletics counter with left-hander Jacob Lopez, who enters at 6-4 with a 4.71 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and 103 strikeouts. Oakland sits at 57-87, but the A’s just took three of four from Seattle and have shown they can still make life difficult for teams fighting for the postseason.
With Cleveland already losing today and Toronto’s ace on the mound, this is exactly the type of game the Blue Jays need to capitalize on. Can Cease deliver another dominant performance, can the offence bounce back from Sunday’s quiet showing, and can Toronto climb back into a Wild Card spot tonight?
We finish with Nick’s picks presented by bet365.
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I verified the key current details: Toronto is 72-72, Sunday’s loss was 6-1, Cease is 10-5 with a 2.25 ERA and 221 K, and Cleveland’s loss today leaves Toronto 0.5 GB with the head-to-head tiebreaker in hand.
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