Sunday couldn’t have gone much worse for the Blue Jays.
A Toronto season that had begun to turn around in recent games saw that momentum stall in their 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
And it wasn’t simply because of the loss, but the multiple injuries that occurred across the span of just one inning.
The struggling American League East squad, which dropped to 25-28 in the loss, had to remove starting pitcher Dylan Cease in the top of the fifth after the former CY Young runner-up was seen shaking his arm after a pitch and left the game with some measure of visible discomfort.
This came as the Blue Jays had already trailed 2-1.
And even more worrisome, Blue Jays’ megastar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took a two-out, 92-mile per hour pitch inside, left for the dugout afterward and never returned.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said the ball hit Guerrero in a “weird spot.”
“He usually doesn’t come out of a game. He’s pretty tough,” Schneider told reporters of Guerrero, according to MLB.com. “I followed him and he just said, ‘I can’t feel my hand.’ It was kind of like [hitting] a funny bone, but travelling at 90-plus miles an hour.”
Cease had been off to a good start in the season individually, jumping out to a 2.98 ERA over 10 starts prior to Sunday, where he was en route to another quality start before his early exit.
Cease has two top-four Cy Young finishes in his career from his stints with the White Sox and Padres.
“When we went out the first time, he was cramping up a little bit,” Schneider told reporters of Cease, according to MLB.com. “Then, he still kind of felt it, obviously, so we wanted to be careful. He’s going to get an MRI. All of the testing and stuff seemed pretty positive. He said he wants to make his next start, so we’ll just see how he is the next couple of days. We’re just hoping for good news.”
Guerrero Jr. has three homers and 22 RBI’s this year, hitting .287 for the year.
He’s also a five-time All-Star and former MVP runner-up.
After getting to Game 7 of the World Series last season, Toronto has started just 25-28 but won four games prior to Sunday.
