Blue Jays in search of top form amid struggles

TORONTO – Chris Bassitt is not about to reach for the panic button despite the recent play of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays wasted a solid six-inning effort from Bassitt with their sixth loss in eight games, a 7-4 defeat in 10 innings to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. Toronto (65-48) still leads the American League East by three games over the Boston Red Sox, an advantage built by a 49-28 record since May 8, the best run by an AL team during that stretch.

Bassitt believes his club has suffered a letdown after emerging from the all-star break by winning two of three from the rival New York Yankees and three of four from the Detroit Tigers, who at the time had Major League Baseball’s best record.

“Then I thought we just laid an egg in Baltimore, where we ran into a super-hot Baltimore offence, and we just weren’t ready for it,” said Bassitt of the Orioles winning three times in the four-game series.

“Unfortunately, it happens.”

The Royals arrived in Toronto having won seven of their last 10. The rubber-match win on Sunday, before 41,461 at Rogers Centre, meant the Blue Jays dropped back-to-back series for the first time since mid-May.

“You just take your licks,” Bassitt said. “It’s going to happen through the year.

“It’s just getting back to who we are as a team, good pitching from the starters to the bullpen and just grind out at-bats.”

There was also the trade deadline on Thursday. It yielded the Blue Jays three new pitchers and first baseman Ty France.

France did not play in the series finale against the Royals. But the three pitchers performed on Sunday to mixed reviews.

Reliever Louis Varland gave up the tying run in the eighth inning, and Seranthony Dominguez was hammered for five more in the 10th.

Meanwhile, in his first rehab start for triple-A Buffalo, Shane Bieber was encouraging. He tossed 62 pitches in five innings, surrendering two runs, including a homer, on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

Toronto manager John Schneider would like to keep Bieber with five days of rest between starts, but his next outing will not be set in stone until the Blue Jays staff sees how he feels after this latest start.

“I think hearing his comments after the game are more encouraging,” Schneider said.

The 30-year-old Bieber, who underwent Tommy John surgery on April 12, 2024, reported he felt “great” and “excited” about where he’s at in the recovery process.

“We’re taking it a start at a time,” Schneider said. “But I think from the stuff, the number of pitches, the (velocity), it’s really encouraging.”

Bieber sat beside Bassitt in the Blue Jays’ dugout on Saturday.

Part of their conversation was some sage advice on the stages of recovery after Tommy John surgery. Bassitt underwent the procedure on his right arm in May 2016.

“Most of it’s private,” said Bassitt, when asked about what they talked about. “From a stance of what I can talk about, it was just how his (Tommy John) rehab was going.

“I’ve been through it. So just understanding what he’s going through, how he’s feeling, the bad and good feelings of the process and things like that. I was wondering where he was at.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2025.

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