Blue Jays lose to Twins in 2023 AL Wild Card Game 1

MINNEAPOLIS — The Blue Jays just got rolled by Royce.

All the ghosts of the old Blue Jays were haunting them in their Game 1 loss to the Twins, 3-1, at Target Field on Tuesday, but Royce Lewis will see him in their nightmares. Lewis hit two home runs, becoming the third player in AL/NL history to do so in his first two postseason games, and he single-handedly put the Blue Jays on the brink of heartbreak.

The Wild Card Series could be surprising and very tough, but after 163 games, the Blue Jays need to find a way to overcome the issues that have prevented them from making a run in the American League East instead of the third and final AL Wild Card spot. Lost on Wednesday, another long winter spent talking about a season that didn’t make it past the past six seasons.

“Our backs are against the wall tomorrow,” said Brandon Belt, one of the veterans this club will look to over the next 24 hours. “We have to come out and play our best baseball of the year, but it’s certainly not impossible. I’ve played a lot of playoff games, and we’ve been successful in a lot of them.”

Scoring just one run for the Blue Jays should be your first hint that Kevin Gausman was on the mound. The Toronto outfielder has dealt with horrific run support all season, as he had the fifth-worst support among qualifying pitchers while in the game, averaging 3.2 runs.

“We hit some balls hard. [Matt Chapman] “He hit the ball farther than Lewis and it was caught,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “that happens. … [Pablo López] Throw the ball well. I thought we adapted well to him. You give him credit. We hit some balls hard and didn’t find any holes.

However, there is no time to correct the luck of a batted ball. In May or June, there is still a whole life ahead of the team. That’s gone now.

This offense isn’t designed to dig itself out of holes early, and Lopez has looked every bit the ace he’s been described as, but the Blue Jays are compounding their problems by falling into another old habit on the bases.

With two on and two out in the fourth inning, Kevin Kiermaier sliced ​​a ball to left side that slid under the third baseman’s glove and rolled into no man’s land. As Bo Bichette approached third in what looked like it would be a bases-loaded situation, he glanced over his shoulder and decided to hit the gas.

Shortstop Carlos Correa broke out quickly and in one smooth, graceful motion he threw Bichette out. The Blue Jays have preached error-free baseball and improved base performance all season, which hasn’t always gone hand-in-hand with aggressive decisions like this. Looking back, loading the bases with Chapman coming up was probably this lineup’s best shot at breaking through.

“I thought it was worth the chance,” Bechet said. “I thought he was going to have to make a big play to get me out, and he did.”

Guzman didn’t help himself much either. The Twins have been a rare team that has given Gausman problems over the years, and that continued into 2023 with seven runs and nine walks in just 10 innings pitched against them. It’s a lineup that drove Guzman “crazy,” as he put it, and we saw more of that in the first innings, with the target crowd swarming over him at every moment and loudly mocking his name.

The crowd was a real factor. There is a roar to the postseason crowd, an urgency that the regular season cannot emulate. Twins fans cheered on the Blue Jays with the same enthusiasm they cheered on their home team, and after Minnesota snapped an 18-game postseason losing streak, manager Rocco Baldelli was in awe.

“I thought the place was going to split open and melt, honestly,” Baldelli said. “It was out of this universe out there on the field. The fans took control of the game. They helped us win today. They helped us win the game, they helped us in so many ways. You can see that, if you just watch visually and see how the players on the other side reacted.” From the stadium.

Wednesday’s crowd will be bigger, louder and hungrier. Minneapolis is hungry for postseason success, and the Twins have the Blue Jays on the ropes, just nine innings away from ending their season.

There’s nothing complicated about this for the Blue Jays. Play their best baseball, or go home.