Jays again come up a little short

Tigers 5 at Blue Jays 4

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Instead of a fresh start coming out of the All-Star Break, the Blue Jays exhibited several of the frustrating traits that defined the first half.

For three innings, Chris Bassitt and Jack Flaherty engaged in a good pitcher’s duel, with the former scatterng a couple hits and a walk while the latter didn’t allow anything. The heart of the Tigers order finally got to Bassitt opening the 4th, with a double followed by a single to break the ice and then Mark Canha pouncing on a change-up for a home run and 3-0 worth of breathing room. Bassitt then reverted back to form and set down 9 of the following 10 to make it through 6 innings.

Meanwhile, Flaherty was perfect through 4.1 innings against an all-too-familiarly somnolescent Jays offense. Bo Bichette and Daulton Varsho finally broke that up with back-to-back singles, but the life was snuffed out by Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement whiffing. Flaherty did the same to Kevin Kiermaier and George Soringer opening the 6th and looked to be right back on cruise control.

But emerging pest Spencer Horwitz drew a walk, and Vladimir Guerrero showed the power he flashed right before the break that had been absent since he was hit on the hand in late June in elevating a laser to left:

So the Jays were back in it, and Bassitt worked into the 7th. He had two outs after sandwiching strikeouts around a single, but again couldn’t hold the line as Wenceel The Pencil Perez took him yard for the dagger that would ultimately prove decisive and a 5-2 lead.

The bullpen did a nice job the rest of the way, seven up, seven down. The Jays jumped on Beau Brieske in the 8th, with a Kiermaier single followed by Springer going yard to narrow it to 5-4. Horwotz followed with a single to bring Vladdy as the go-ahead run. But the Tigers smartly went to their closer Jason Foley with the game on the line then, and he mowed through the next three. With the bottom of the order doing the same in the 9th. So close, and yet so predictable.

Jays of the Day
: Springer (+.106 WPA) was the only with the number but Vladdy (+.085) got them back in and Horwitz (+.081) was the only one to reach twice.

: Bassitt (-.276) of course. And then a parade of “hitters”: Kirk (-.160, 0-fer), Clement (-.160, 0-fer), Turner (-.098) and Jimenez got caught in the dragnet right at the end for good measure (-.098)

Tomorrow brings a match-up of two pitchers with 4-8 records in Reese Olson and Yusei Kikuchi at 3:07 EDT. Will the Jays get on track? Probably not, but stranger things have happened.