Blue Jays 3, Astros 2: Toronto scores late off Houston bullpen

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Houston Astros third baseman Grae Kessinger (16) flies out against the Toronto Blue Jays during the third inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (Andrew Lahodynskyj/The Canadian Press via AP)

Houston Astros executive Craig Biggio and general manager Dana Brown watch the Astros take batting practice before a game on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 under a closed roof at Toronto's Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays are keeping the roof closed due to the Canadian forest fires.

TORONTO — The Astros got another good start from rookie Ronel Blanco, but he was outdueled by Chris Bassitt.

The Blue Jays veteran gave up just four hits in eight innings as Toronto beat the Astros 3-2 Wednesday night at Rogers Centre. Jays closer Jordan Romano pitched a scoreless ninth to get the save despite giving up a leadoff double to Mauricio Dubón. After getting Jose Altuve to ground out, Romano got a big assist from center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who robbed Yordan Alvarez of a possible game-tying hit with a sliding catch. Then, Romano struck out Kyle Tucker to seal the win for his 16th save.

The only damage the Astros did to Bassitt (7-4) in a game that lasted 2 hours and 3 minutes, the shortest of Houston's season, came in the form of Alvarez's two-run homer in the fourth inning.

By the same token, the only damage the Blue Jays inflicted on Blanco was a pair of solo home runs from Bo Bichette and Brandon Belt. Bichette's fourth-inning homer was particularly painful because it came on an 0-2 count when Blanco hung a slider in the middle of the zone.

"He gave us a great chance," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. "He just made two mistakes. Both of them were sliders out over the plate. One was an 0-2 slider. Those guys, they don't miss them. To give up two runs in six innings against those guys, he did a very good job."

The back-breaker for the Astros came in the seventh inning when reliever Hector Neris was called for a pitch-clock violation on a full count that gave leadoff hitter Daulton Varsho a walk. Varsho moved to second on a Kiermaier walk and scored the go-ahead run when Alejandro Kirk delivered a pinch-hit single. That was the first run Neris had allowed over his last 20 appearances.

Here are three takeaways from the Astros loss…

Adding a rookie who had never made a big league start and had an ERA near 5 in 17 major league relief appearances seemed like a curious move at the time. It's been only two starts, but Blanco is proving the Astros right for believing in him so far.

A week after picking up his first big league win by holding the Angels to two runs over 5 1/3 innings, the 29-year-old righthander threw a career-high six innings and limited the Blue Jays to just three hits. However, two of them were solo home runs, which meant he left with the game tied at 2.

A big concern for Blanco as a starter is that he really throws just two pitches — slider and four-seam fastball — but they both were on point against the Jays. Fifty-one of his 94 pitches were sliders, and he got 12 swing-and-misses on it. He got four whiffs on the 39 fastballs he threw. He also threw three changeups and one curveball.

Compare that to veteran Jays starter Chris Bassitt, who threw eight different pitches but got only eight swing-and-misses total.

It's not uncommon to see pitch-clock violations with the new rules implemented this season, but it's a bit unusual to see them end at-bats. It happened to the Astros twice Wednesday. José Abreu struck out on a pitch-clock violation in the second inning, and Neris walked seventh-inning leadoff hitter Varsho on a pitch-clock violation, and he later came around to score the go-ahead run.

Abreu's came when Bassitt didn't step on the rubber until the pitch clock was at the seven-second mark. The rules state that the hitter must be in the box and "alert to the pitcher" before the eight-second mark, regardless of where the pitcher is. Abreu wasn't, and he didn't argue the call, even though Bassitt shrugged his shoulders and appeared to apologize to him.

Neris' gaffe was much more costly. On a full count, he shook off a sign from catcher Yainer Diaz, then appeared to step off the rubber to try to call time as the clock expired. He was called for a violation, and Varsho was awarded first base.

Alvarez drove in his league-leading 54th and 55th runs in the loss, putting him on pace for more than 140 on the season. He's unlikely to continue at this prolific clip, but even if he slows down, he's still putting himself on a trajectory to join some Astros greats. Lance Berkman has the franchise record with the 136 runs he drove in back in 2006. The top seven slots on the single-season RBI leader board are all owned by Berkman or Jeff Bagwell, with at least 126 RBIs needed to break into that top-seven group.

Alvarez's 17th homer in Wednesday's loss also puts him on pace to become just the fifth Astro to hit at least 40 in a season, joining Bagwell, Berkman, Richard Hidalgo and Alex Bregman. Alvarez's career high is the 37 he hit last season.