Twins’ Lopez just too much for Toronto batters as Jays lose

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Kevin Gausman exorcised his personal Minnesota Twins demons, but it wasn’t enough to get the Blue Jays a win.

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Gausman was roughed up by the Twins earlier this year and then again in the post-season last year. It was to the point that Gausman and many of the Jays were convinced the Twins had discovered a tell in his approach that was giving them an edge.

Gausman was better, no question, but it hardly mattered the way Twins starter Pablo Lopez was mowing down Blue Jays batters.

Gausman gave up two runs over 5 2/3 innings and that was all the Twins needed as Lopez extended his scoreless innings streak to 20 2/3 with another clean 7 2/3 in an eventual 2-0 Twins win.

Lopez spread six harmless singles over his outing and didn’t walk a batter to earn the victory.

It was the third consecutive game that the Jays bats have been mostly quiet, which is obviously of some concern.

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Manager John Schneider gave George Springer the night off and that didn’t help matters.

Spencer Horwitz had two of those six Toronto hits but was erased trying to take second on a long single into the right field corner that Matt Wallner made a fine play on to get Horwitz at second.

Gausman took the loss as he gave up two runs in the fifth. His night included four hits, but also four walks over 5 2/3 innings.

The Jays will get two more cracks at the Twins this weekend with Jose Berrios on the mound for the second game of the series for the Jays. First pitch goes at 7:05 p.m. Eastern.

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ABOUT THAT 2025 ROTATION

Bowden Francis’ recent run of stellar pitching has Jays fans already looking ahead to next year and wondering just how that rotation will look.

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Well, the options aren’t as many as one might think, although the unknown of the Jays off-season plays via free agency could change that too.

As it stands now, no rotation in Toronto begins without Jose Berrios who is signed through 2028 on his seven-year $131-million contract.

Ditto for Gausman who is signed through 2026 on a five-year $110-million deal.

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Chris Bassitt has a year left on his three-year $63-million deal but things get a lot less certain after that.

Francis has certainly edged his way into the conversation with his past four starts in which he has allowed six hits and just two runs over 29 innings.

But after that the pickings get even slimmer.

Yariel Rodriguez has shown flashes of being a guy the Jays can count on in the rotation for next season but of late he has struggled.

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Alek Manoah could yet find his way back to prominence on this team, but it’s no secret that his stock has dropped.

Health has been the problem this season. He had Tommy John surgery in June, which means even if he makes a full recovery, he likely won’t be back until at least late June.

Ryan Yarbrough could be an option but his best role over his career seems to have been long-inning reliever.

Ricky Tiedemann, the Jays top-ranked pitcher in the minors was thought to be a guy who would find his way to the Majors this season, instead underwent Tommy John surgery in August, spoiling his 2024 season and almost assuredly will cost him next season as well.

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Teams prefer to go into a season with at least six and preferable seven starting options for their Major League roster, which means the Jays are going to have to add this off-season or do plenty of hoping for the kind of health last year’s rotation enjoyed.

Francis has made the picture a little rosier of late, but the Jays are going to need more healthy options than they currently have heading into 2025.

SHUFFLING THE DECK

It’s not September yet but the auditions are already well underway. The latest is outfielder Nathan Lukes who was recalled from triple-A Buffalo and promptly inserted in the lineup last night in Minnesota.

Lukes replaces another candidate auditioning for next year’s team in OF Steward Berroa who went the opposite way being optioned back to triple-A Buffalo.

Berroa has been up with the big league team since early in July after a brief visit in June.

In 24 games, he managed just 41 plate appearances and hit just .152 with seven runs scored and five stolen bases.

Lukes is getting his first Major League look this season but did appear in 29 games a year ago. Like Berroa, at-bats were hard to come by with just 31 plate appearances over those 29 games, where he hit just .192.

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