The Jays, coming off a sweep against Boston, were manhandled in Friday afternoon action at Wrigley Field.
The Toronto Blue Jays, coming off a sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, were throttled 16-2 by the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday afternoon.
With the loss, the Jays are now 37-39 while the Cubs improved to 40-36.
Toronto was doomed from the start, as Kevin Gausman gave up seven earned runs in just two innings. He allowed seven hits and four walks while also striking out three. Usually very reliable, he's now 4-5 with a 4.04 ERA.
As noted by StatsCentre, this is tied for the fifth-worst road loss in franchise history. The worst loss came on Sept. 28 of 2000 when the Jays were beaten 23-1 by the Baltimore Orioles.
Brendon Little, just recently recalled after a successful reset in Triple-A, continued his poor season at the big league level. He gave up four earned runs on two hits and three walks in just one inning of work. Tyler Rogers was tagged for five unearned runs.
Offensively, the Blue Jays had five hits, with George Springer collecting two of them. He also had both RBIs via a home run in the sixth inning. It was the 301st home run of his career.
Nathan Lukes, Davis Schneider and Andres Gimenez all had a hit also.
Gausman's first inning
--Pete Crow-Armstrong walked and then stole second
--Alex Bregman walked, putting runners at first and second
--Michael Busch grounded into a forceout, advancing both runners
--Seiya Suzuki doubled in both runs
--Ian Happ walked
--Matt Shaw walked to load the bases
--Nico Horner struck out swinging
--Carson Kelly hit a grand slam, making it 6-0
--Dansby Swanson singled and stole second
--Crow-Armstrong singled
--Bregman singled to score the run, making it 7-0
--Busch grounded out to end the frame
Up next
The two teams will meet again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch at 2:20 p.m. ET. Left-hander Patrick Corbin will take the mound against right-hander Collin Rea. Corbin is 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA while Rea is 5-5 with a 5.35.
Also in the news for the Jays
On Thursday, manager John Schneider said that Anthony Santander is working back from his labrum surgery and could be a part of the roster down the stretch. The Blue Jays are targeting an August return, according to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic.
Now 31 years old, Santander is a nine-year veteran of the Baltimore Orioles and Blue Jays. He is a career .241 hitter with 161 homers, including a career-high 44 in 2024, which earned him his big payday from Toronto. He was an All-Star in that season.
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