Blue Jays Lose in Heartbreaking Fashion for Second Straight Night

For the second night in a row, Toronto leaves the ballpark with a gut-wrenching loss.

With the bases juiced in the top of the 12th inning, Blue Jays reliever Jeremy Beasley stood tall on the mound.

Beasly was the eighth Toronto pitcher to appear in Friday's game, and, after striking out Manuel Margot for the second out, he looked poised to shut things down.

Then, Francisco Mejía stepped in. The Rays catcher took the first pitch off the tin roof in right field for a grand slam.

Even a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. two-run home run -- his second of the night -- couldn't spark a Blue Jays comeback in the bottom of the 12th, as Toronto lost 9-7.

The game started off real promising when the Blue Jays got to Rays starter Tyler Glasnow early. Toronto hitters jumped on the hard-throwing-righty for two runs in the first and five total runs, striking out just twice, and chasing him after 4 2/3 innings.

While the rest of league pulls out its hair trying to hit Glasnow, Toronto -- and Marcus Semien in particular -- seems to have him figured out. On April 23, the Blue Jays tagged Glasnow for five runs and the club carried that momentum into Friday's game.

Semien hopped on a fastball in the first inning and scorched a double into the left field corner. He would later triple and homer off Glasnow -- his second big fly off the Rays fireballer this year.

Who's the best 2B in @MLB and why is it Marcus Semien? 💣 pic.twitter.com/M3KAXHRmK5
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 22, 2021

"[Glasnow] left a couple of balls up, and I was able to, you know, get lucky on the triple with the wind," Semien said. "And then the next one was a changeup. So he's starting to show us all his pitches and, if he's up, he's a little easier to hit."

Semien has been among the best big-league hitters of late. In 79 at-bats in May, Semien has 30 hits, 16 for extra bases -- both numbers lead the majors for that time period. On Friday he finished a single shy of the cycle.

This Blue Jays lineup has developed a habit of roughing up star pitchers. Toronto has jumped on Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola, and now Glasnow through the first quarter of the season.

"The good thing about facing aces is you know what they have," Semien said. "For me, sometimes it's hard to face a guy who you don't know, who you've never heard of who's coming out of the pen."

Toronto has a top-tier offence -- its .743 team OPS ranked sixth in all of baseball coming into Friday's game -- but Toronto's starting pitching continues to weigh the team down.

Blue Jays starter Anthony Kay struggled to find a put-away pitch and walked four batters in four innings. The left-hander needed 91 pitches to get 12 outs.

After a steady month of April from both Toronto's starting rotation and its bullpen, everything has crashed back to earth. Over the last 14 days, the Blue Jays hold a 4.84 team ERA -- 25th in the league during that time frame.

It's likely too early to speculate about the trade market, but there very well could be some in-house roster moves in the coming days to address the pitching situation.

After the game, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said there was "a chance" the team makes a roster move to bolster its pitching depth.

If that is the case, and the Jays front office dips into its minor league system for starting pitching help, a certain 6-foot-6 right-handed starter could potentially be near the top of the list.

Up Next:

LHP Robbie Ray vs. LHP Shane McClanahan @ 7:37 PM ET

McClanahan, Tampa's No. 4 prospect, has made four starts this season, posting a 4.67 ERA. The rookie left-hander's best pitch is his wipeout slider, which produces a 51% whiff rate, but he also averages 97 miles-per-hour on his fastball.

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