Blue Jays officially hit rock bottom following meltdown in Beantown in loss to Red Sox (2024)

Swept in back-to-back series, their record dropping like a stone and whatever hope of making a run for a wild-card spot looking bleaker by the day, all seemed lost for the Blue Jays as the losses and misery mounted.

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Along comes a date in Boston and it’s as though the script was flipped — until the game got entirely flipped on is its head.

It has been said that no lead at fabled Fenway Park is never safe, no win ever assured until the game’s final out is officially in the books.

The wildly entertaining and incredibly chaotic game on Monday provided the latest proof.

The Blue Jays scored five runs in the seventh inning, capped off by a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. moon shot, to take a 6-2 lead, but Boston scored four runs in the eighth to tie the game, and pushed across another run in the ninth to win 7-6.

It was a lost opportunity for the Blue Jays, as yet another game was frittered away.

So many little things went awry, including a ninth-inning balk by reliever Zach Pop that put the winning run at second base with no out.

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A routine pop out that ended up going for a double when Addison Barger had a brain cramp.

A bullpen that failed to do its job when Chris Bassitt provided a quality start.

The Blue Jays have now lost seven games in a row, the most since Guerrero broke into the majors in 2019.

No one knows how much lower this team can go, but Monday may have been the lowest of the low.

Inexcusable as it was deplorable, and yet this has been the plight of the Blue Jays, who don’t know how to win and may not win now that their collective psyche has been battered.

BEANTOWN MEMORIES

No one will soon forget Davis Schneider’s debut when the Jays were in Boston last season at a time when Toronto was in desperate need of a lift.

In many ways, not much has changed.

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It was all Schneider last season when he hit a home run in his first MLB at-bat, the first of what would turn into a historic coming-out party.

More importantly, the Blue Jays earned a three-game sweep.

A year ago, Schneider was at second base.

Monday at Fenway, Schneider started in left field and batted seventh in the order.

It was also the return to Fenway Park for veteran Justin Turner.

Turner played one season for the Red Sox before signing a free-agent deal with the Blue Jays.

Fittingly, it was Turner who drove in the game’s first run Monday on a one-out single in the fourth inning.

Equally fitting, on the next pitch no less, was George Springer hitting into an inning-ending double play as his woes continue.

Turner came up to the plate in the sixth inning, two outs, two on with first base open in a 2-1 game.

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He worked a full count before drawing a walk to load the bases for Springer.

Springer fouled off the first pitch and then sent a routine fly ball to centre field for the third out.

The potential scoring sequence began when Spencer Horwitz was hit by a pitch with two outs, allowing him to continue his streak of reaching base each time he has been in the starting lineup.

WAITING ON BO

Unless something completely goes off the rails, which is always a possibility given the travails of the Blue Jays, expect Bo Bichette to be back in the lineup in some fashion Tuesday.

Bichette (calf) was placed on the 10-day injured list last week.His 10-day stint expires Tuesday.

For the 10th game, Isiah Kiner-Falefa started at shortstop, a position where Bichette has been a fixture.

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IKF also served as the leadoff hitter.He has been making good contact and has shown an ability to go deep as evidenced by IKF’s two-homer game in Cleveland.

He led off the fourth inning Monday by stroking a single up the middle in recording the night’s first hit.

Safe to say Bichette will be somewhere in the middle of the order once he receives the green light to return.

WAITING ON JOEY

This Blue Jays season has been so disjointed, so disappointing and so disgusting that any word on Etobico*ke’s Joey Votto gets blown completely out of proportion.

So be it, one supposes.

In terms of distraction, a Votto update does serve its point in taking some of the focus off the on-field product and whatever off-the-field issue is percolating.

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After experiencing some lower back tightness, the future hall of famer is “ramping back up,” according to Blue Jays manager John Schneider.

At some point this week, added the skipper, Votto is expected to return to action in the Florida Complex League.

When Votto felt lower back tightness last Wednesday, he was playing first base for the Dunedin Blue Jays.

FULL PITCHER

Jordan Romano (elbow) has resumed playing catch at Rogers Centre after experiencing some elbow soreness over the weekend, which raised more than a few red flags; on Monday, the Markham native was throwing from 75 feet; no one knows when the team’s incumbent closer will return following his second bout with an elbow issue … When Romano went out, Yimi Garcia assumed the closer’s role until the hard-throwing righty injured his elbow; he continues to progress through his throwing progression and is up to throwing from 120 feet.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com

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