Blue Jays demolish Rockies to buck their trend against bottom feeders

New York Times

6 hours ago

DENVER — In every imaginable way, the Toronto Blue Jays trounced the Colorado Rockies. All nine starting batters had a hit by the middle of Monday's third inning. They led by nine runs after three and finished with 25 hits.
It was an undeniable blowout, 15-1 — the sort of sideways score expected when a division leader matches up with a team on pace for 48 wins. The cavernous gap between Toronto and Colorado was predictably clear. But that predictability hasn't been common for the 2025 Blue Jays.
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Toronto flew to Denver after losing just four of its past 13 series. All four of those dropped sets came against non-playoff teams, including the three squads sitting at the bottom of each American League division — the White Sox, Orioles and Athletics.
The Rockies presented the ultimate trap. Their best month of the season was a 10-16 June. Their Monday starter, Tanner Gordon, entered with a 4.85 ERA. A Blue Jays' win was expected, but Toronto delivered a beatdown that surpassed expectations.
'You don't want to play to the level of your competition,' Eric Lauer said. 'Like you want to play your game. Don't want to get too relaxed thinking, 'Oh, we got this game in the bag from before the game starts.' So we did a really good job today of going out there and playing our game.'
Early in the season, Kevin Gausman stood in a cramped corner of George Steinbrenner Field's road clubhouse. He thought for a moment on why the Jays, then hovering on the outside edges of the playoff picture, were unable to find consistent footing.
'I think we've kind of played to the level of the team that we're playing,' he said. 'If that makes any sense?'
Since Gausman's diagnosis, the Jays have found much more than a footing. They've jumped beyond the wild-card spots, pushed atop the American League East and now fight for a first-round bye. Through it all, the basement dwellers still gave Toronto trouble.
It's an almost inexplicable quirk. The same team that swept the Yankees and beat the Tigers in a four-game series struggled against the bottom feeders. Manager John Schneider's explanation is parity. Every big-league team is filled with big-league players. Any team can win on any given night. The Yankees were just swept by the Marlins and the Dodgers dropped a series to the Rays.
'You match up against certain teams certain ways,' Schneider said. 'You know, with Baltimore and Kansas City, they didn't let us breathe that much. There weren't very many mistakes to be hit. We made a few of our own, both on the mound and in the field.'
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There is an element of randomness. There's a reason Colorado has 30 wins, not zero. But there are teams more beatable than others and the Rockies sit at the top of that list. In the spacious confines of Coors Field, the Jays quickly destroyed any opportunity for an upset.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the only Toronto starter not to record multiple hits and Ernie Clement led with a career-high five knocks. The Blue Jays piled on seven runs in the third and five more in the seventh. When Bo Bichette launched his second homer of the contest, putting Toronto up 13-1, he hardly celebrated. The shortstop calmly walked back to the visiting dugout and donned the Jays' celebratory home run jacket.
'We needed it,' Bichette said. 'We needed to win the game today, which was the most important part. But yeah, I think it was good for everybody.'
Toronto has two more cracks against Colorado this week, but chances against the league's worst are dwindling. Entering Monday, the Jays' remaining opponents combined for an exactly .500 record, the second-toughest schedule of any current American League playoff team. Just two of their remaining opponents, the Pirates and Orioles, sit in a division basement. In comparison, the Yankees have four remaining sets against last-place teams.
The Blue Jays can continue to thrive against good teams — that's what has them atop the East right now. That success against tough opponents is really all that matters come October, too.
But these bottom-feeder series are chances to save bullpen arms and stack wins. Some of those soft spots have passed uncapitalized. Against Colorado, the Jays took full advantage.
(Top photo of Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)