One step forward, two steps back with this team.
On Sunday afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays played the rubber match against the Cleveland Guardians, falling 5-4 to lose the series. This is their fourth series loss in their last five. Let’s take a look at what happened in the game.
In the top of the third, the Guardians got on the board thanks to Steven Kwan hitting into a forceout. The Guardians added three runs in the next inning, their second run was scored thanks to Daniel Schneemann’s double, followed by runs three and four scored thanks to Gabriel Arias’ single.
The Jays got three of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, Nathan Lukes hit an RBI double to make it 4-1. Andrés Giménez was up next, hitting a two-RBI single to make it a 4-3 game.
Our Empire strikes back 😤 pic.twitter.com/gYqoeBz9yG
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 4, 2025
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It stood that way until the ninth inning. Brendon Little ran into some problems in the top of the ninth, eventually walking in a run to make it 5-3. That was rather unfortunate, as the Jays got a runner across in the bottom of the ninth thanks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s sacrifice fly. A runner was stranded on third with two outs, but more on that in the takeaways.
Takeaways…
It feels like Groundhog Day with this team. The Jays have done a good job getting runners on base, but oh my, do they ever struggle to score them. In Sunday’s game, they were 4-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. It was better than Saturday, at least, as the Jays went 1-10 and left nine runners on in their 5-3 defeat.
There were plenty of opportunities for the Jays to score in this game. In the bottom of the first, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached with hits, leaving a runner on first and third. After a double play and a strikeout, the threat was over. In the bottom of the third, the Jays had the bases loaded with two outs, but George Springer flew out to end the inning.
The most egregious lack of scoring was in the bottom of the eighth. After the Jays got the first two on, Ernie Clement hit a sacrifice bunt (why? It’s 2025), allowing Myles Straw to fly out to shallow right field and Nathan Lukes to pop out.
In total, the Jays had seven hits, two from Bo Bichette and two from Andrés Giménez. Bichette hit one of two doubles, with the other coming from Nathan Lukes. Giménez had a good series against his former team, registering five hits in 12 at-bats, raising his batting average from .165 to .190.
Bowden Francis had another tough start, pitching four and one-third innings, giving up four earned runs to bring his season ERA to 5.66. Josh Walker struck out two in his inning and a third, while Dillon Tate allowed two hits and three walks in an inning, but got out of it unscathed. Yariel Rodríguez gave up an earned run, and Brendon Little walked three in his inning of work. Not great.
The Blue Jays have Monday off, as they fly to Los Angeles to face the L.A. Angels starting on Tuesday. It’s a three-game series, and it’s worth noting that the Jays swept both series they played against the Angels last season.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.