With trouble ahead, Jays misery heightens in blowout loss to Pirates

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After that feel good (but not exactly great) four-game winning streak, dour reality returned to the Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon.

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Not that it ever truly left, even with the considerable buzz associated with the City Connect uniform launch and merchandise sales blitz as a distraction.

It came in the form of a non-competitive 8-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, a modest National League opponent who scored three runs in the first and glided the rest of the way to a 27th win (which, by the way, is the same number as the Jays).

It came on a day that started with more grim news from the injury ward when it was revealed that closer Jordan Romano is heading to the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation.

And it also came with the reality that to whatever degree the team has been able to enjoy an alleged soft spot in their schedule, that too is about end with a thud.

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But first to the latest morose state of the offence that, yes, has shown some flashes of life over the past couple of weeks, but still seems determined to revert to benign as its default as has been the case again over the past two contests.

Following a smoke and mirrors 5-3 win over the Pirates the previous night, one in which they scored just one legitimate run in 14 innings, there was more of the same gloom on Saturday as the Jays didn’t manage a run until a Daniel Vogelbach RBI single in the sixth. And that was it.

That ended a gap of 19 innings in which the Jays scored just one run generated from legitimate offence. The five runs on Friday, remember, were an offensive mirage — the first coming on a misplayed ball by a hapless Pirates outfielder, the next two coming in extras with runners on second to begin the inning, making Davis Schneider’s walk off blast the only run of accomplishment.

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“He’s had a good last handful of starts and we just didn’t get anything going, really,” manager John Schneider said of Pirates starter Mitch Keller. “He made his mistakes but we didn’t do much with it. We didn’t get much going today.”

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The Jays still have an opportunity to pull off a series win when this three-gamer against the Pirates wraps up on Sunday. But after that, the schedule gets real for a team that has dropped to 27-30.

While it hasn’t exactly been one step forward, two steps back, with one remaining in the 13-game stretch against the White Sox, Tigers, White Sox again and now the Pirates, the Jays record is 7-5.

After four against the Orioles, the rest of June includes six against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians, four against the AL East-leading New York Yankees, three against the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers and six against the Boston Red Sox.

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Once the Pirates vacate, the only team the Jays face with a losing record the rest of the month is the Oakland Athletics, who entered play on Saturday with just four fewer wins than the Jays.

In the meantime, while they try to figure out how to compete against the Orioles (37-19 following Saturday action) ahead of Monday’s opener of that Rogers Centre series, it’s not just the offence that is an area of concern.

Chris Bassitt will get the start on Sunday with the team hoping against hope that the pain in the right-hander’s neck doesn’t flare up. For Monday’s opener against the Orioles, Kevin Gausman’s turn and on Tuesday the team will unveil its stab at overcoming the lack of organizational pitching depth by unveiling a plan for the injured Alek Manoah.

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Compromised by performance and now health, these are not easy times for a Jays team that is a modest 13-13 at home and still in the throes of finding its way back to performing like a post-season contender.

“Two months in and obviously some of the pitchers have gone down (to injury),” said Saturday’s starter Yusei Kikuchi. “But not just the position players. I’m sure they’re banged up, too.

“This is the time of season we’re all grinding a little bit here.”

And doing so with only modest signs of relief.

GAME ON

As has been the case so often for the Jays — as if on repeat — it was an ominous beginning for the lineup when Daulton Varsho was left to rot on third base after a one-out triple in the first inning. That extended the Jays club record streak of not scoring in the first inning to an incredible 23 games … It didn’t help that the Pirates had already opened up a 3-0 lead, thanks to a two-run homer from third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes … It was not the crispest outing for Kikuchi, who was dinged for nine hits and six runs (five earned) while striking out four. The Jays have now dropped each of the past seven games that Kikuchi has started, contributing a combined eight runs while he was on the mound and zero in three of them … To further illustrate that lack of run support, Kikuchi is 1-4 in his six starts at the Rogers Centre but has an ERA of 3.62.

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