NEW YORK -- If you¡¯re not going to hit balls into the bleachers, you need to nail everything that happens on the dirt and grass.
The Blue Jays didn¡¯t do that Saturday night in Queens against the Mets. A game that had every opportunity to turn into a rebound win, which would have catapulted them to 6-3 on the young season, turned into a 3-2 walk-off loss.
The tragedy here isn¡¯t just the loss itself, but the two excellent performances that were lost in it. Chris Bassitt was brilliant. Alan Roden had one of his best games as a pro, an all-around effort that should have been part of a win. It was all headed that way until Toronto¡¯s bullpen allowed it to slip away late.
Bassitt was the perfect man to pitch Saturday¡¯s game on a cold, damp, miserable night that trudged slowly forward. While some players bundled up with long sleeves, hand warmers and ski masks, there was Bassitt, as comfortable as he looked in the Florida sun all spring. He¡¯d saunter out to the mound, strike out a few Mets and then take his time walking that same path back.
¡°I guess my offseason program, being out in the woods all the time, helps me a little bit,¡± Bassitt said. ¡°The cold doesn¡¯t really bother me. It is what it is.¡±
Bassitt struck out nine over his 6 2/3 innings. His 92 pitches took 92 different paths to the plate, frustrating Mets hitters who always seemed to be looking for something a little different.
He was in full control, too, not only of the at-bats, but everything around him. The first inning captured this perfectly. With Francisco Lindor standing on third and big Pete Alonso at the plate, geared up for the 3-2 pitch, Bassitt flipped in a sweeper that wouldn¡¯t have gotten a speeding ticket on most US highways and Alonso swung right through it.
When Brandon Nimmo stepped to the plate next, Bassitt was taking a moment to step back onto the mound between pitches when he saw Lindor, his old Mets teammate, dancing down the line off third base. Some pitchers would jolt to attention, maybe fake a throw over. Bassitt? He just shot Lindor a smile and a point -- the type that says ¡°check out this guy¡± -- and waved him back to the base.
Bassitt¡¯s co-star Saturday was Roden, the rookie outfielder who just keeps giving manager John Schneider reasons to put him in the lineup. Roden turned an 0-2 count into a nine-pitch walk, led off the fifth with a single and kept the sixth alive with a two-out double. He scored both of the Blue Jays¡¯ runs. What else can you ask for?
¡°He just continues to answer the bell,¡± Schneider said. ¡°He was in total control of his at-bats and he ran the bases well. That¡¯s a credit to a young guy coming in. This is a tough atmosphere. These people are crazy after last year and a couple of free-agent signings. That¡¯s a tough atmosphere, and I thought he handled himself great."
These performances still count for the stat line, but each of these players would agree with the fan sitting at home watching. They¡¯d prefer the win.
Toronto¡¯s relievers had that sitting right in front of them, but Brendon Little and Nick Sandlin ended up with the biggest moments of the game on their plates. They¡¯d both like a few pitches back, as Schneider put it, but the game ended with Yimi Garc¨ªa and Jeff Hoffman -- Toronto¡¯s two dominant back-end arms -- pitching earlier and later than expected.
¡°We¡¯re counting on guys to get the outs you think they¡¯re going to get,¡± Schneider said. ¡°The walk to [Jose] Siri didn¡¯t help, and then the base hit. We wanted Jeff [Hoffman] at the top there and we didn¡¯t get there.¡±
Garc¨ªa needing 10 pitches to escape the seventh after taking over for Bassitt was a key wrinkle in all of this, which stopped Schneider short of sending him out for another inning, but you could feel the momentum tilting in the air at Citi Field as Mets fans crawled on top of Little and later Sandlin.
It felt too familiar to some of the 2024 losses, when Bassitt would pitch well, then stand by and watch the story change completely in the late innings. The Blue Jays have done a good job at shaking ¡®24¡¯s demons at times early this season, but they can¡¯t afford to let unforced errors waste performances like we just saw from Bassitt and Roden.