TORONTO – Chris Bassitt shouldn’t be about to achieve for the panic button despite the recent play of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays wasted a solid six-inning effort from Bassitt with their sixth loss in eight games, a 7-4 defeat in 10 innings to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. Toronto (65-48) still leads the American League East by three games over the Boston Red Sox, a bonus built by a 49-28 record since May 8, the very best run by an AL team during that stretch.
Bassitt believes his club has suffered a letdown after emerging from the all-star break by winning two of three from the rival Latest York Yankees and three of 4 from the Detroit Tigers, who on the time had Major League Baseball’s best record.
“Then I assumed we just laid an egg in Baltimore, where we bumped into a super-hot Baltimore offence, and we just weren’t ready for it,” said Bassitt of the Orioles winning 3 times within the four-game series.
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“Unfortunately, it happens.”
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The Royals arrived in Toronto having won seven of their last 10. The rubber-match win on Sunday, before 41,461 at Rogers Centre, meant the Blue Jays dropped back-to-back series for the primary time since mid-May.
“You only take your licks,” Bassitt said. “It’s going to occur through the yr.
“It’s just getting back to who we’re as a team, good pitching from the starters to the bullpen and just grind out at-bats.”
There was also the trade deadline on Thursday. It yielded the Blue Jays three recent pitchers and first baseman Ty France.
France didn’t play within the series finale against the Royals. However the three pitchers performed on Sunday to mixed reviews.
Reliever Louis Varland gave up the tying run within the eighth inning, and Seranthony Dominguez was hammered for five more within the tenth.
Meanwhile, in his first rehab start for triple-A Buffalo, Shane Bieber was encouraging. He tossed 62 pitches in five innings, surrendering two runs, including a homer, on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
Toronto manager John Schneider would love to maintain Bieber with five days of rest between starts, but his next outing won’t be set in stone until the Blue Jays staff sees how he feels after this latest start.
“I feel hearing his comments after the sport are more encouraging,” Schneider said.
The 30-year-old Bieber, who underwent Tommy John surgery on April 12, 2024, reported he felt “great” and “excited” about where he’s at within the recovery process.
“We’re taking it a start at a time,” Schneider said. “But I feel from the stuff, the variety of pitches, the (velocity), it’s really encouraging.”
Bieber sat beside Bassitt within the Blue Jays’ dugout on Saturday.
A part of their conversation was some sage advice on the stages of recovery after Tommy John surgery. Bassitt underwent the procedure on his right arm in May 2016.
“Most of it’s private,” said Bassitt, when asked about what they talked about. “From a stance of what I can discuss, it was just how his (Tommy John) rehab was going.
“I’ve been through it. So just understanding what he’s going through, how he’s feeling, the bad and good feelings of the method and things like that. I used to be wondering where he was at.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press