Trey Yesavage lacks command in short outing, Blue Jays lose to Padres

A game that went off-course early ended with more frustration for the Blue Jays on Saturday. Trey Yesavage’s rough start was the big talking point as a three-game win streak came to an end.

SAN DIEGO – A game that went off-course early ended with more frustration for the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. In between they rallied with a pair of game-changing home runs from Jonathan Clase and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but the end result was still another loss for the 45-50 Blue Jays, who are now 1.5 games behind the Mariners for the third American League wild card spot but now fourth in the division behind the surging Red Sox. Starter Trey Yesavage was as wild as he’s ever been in the majors, walking the first three hitters he faced, but Padres starter Walker Buehler was equally ineffective, walking four Blue Jays and allowing four early runs to let the visitors back into the game.

The Padres started so poorly that the crowd of 40,561 spent much of the early part of the game booing their team. If this game had been played in Toronto, Blue Jays fans would have had plenty of reason to boo, too. The boos turned to cheers when the Padres took a 7-4 lead, but Guerrero Jr. tied the game with a three-run homer in the sixth inning, his sixth of the season and second in the last three games.

Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, former teammate Ty France took Mason Fluharty deep in the bottom half of the sixth, giving the Padres a one-run lead. In San Diego, that’s more than enough as the late-inning duo of Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller kept the Blue Jays from getting back into the game, giving the Padres an 8-7 win. A Luis Urias single against Morejon created a little hope in the top of the eighth, but Jonatan Clase was unable to get a bunt down against the flame-throwing lefty and the potential rally soon fizzled.

One inning later, Nathan Lukes led off with a single against Miller and George Springer crushed a ball to centre for a potential extra-base hit only to see Jackson Merrill run it down. One batter later, Kazuma Okamoto struck out to end the game. Still, the story of this game revolves around Yesavage.

Simply put, the rookie right-hander could not find the zone. Of the 59 pitches he threw, only 20 were strikes. He fell behind constantly, slowing the pace of the game to a crawl while walking Padre after Padre.

All told, he tied a career high by walking seven hitters and was charged with four earned runs. He allowed just one hit, largely because so few pitches were close enough to tempt the Padres to swing. This isn’t the first time Yesavage has had trouble staying in the strike zone.

In the last six weeks, he’s had starts with five, six and seven walks. Yet the control issues were more pronounced this time, as his previous career low for strikes in a start was 42, more than double what he managed Saturday. Mind you it’s not just Yesavage who’s not throwing strikes.

As a staff, the Blue Jays ranked 30th among the 30 MLB teams in zone percentage entering play Saturday – a sign they aren’t attacking hitters the way they should be. Because of the abbreviated outing from Yesavage, the Blue Jays needed to cover 6.1 innings of relief with Adam Macko, Braydon Fisher, Fluharty and Spencer Miles. As a collective, they held their own, allowing a total of three runs to keep the game within reach.

The series finale Sunday will also be the final game before the All-Star break for the Blue Jays, who will look to win the series with Kevin Gausman on the mound opposite Germán Márquez.