It was an arduous 14-month process for Casey Janssen to work his way back as a starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays after suffering a serious shoulder injury.
And it took just one swing of the bat from fellow pitcher Derek Lowe of the Atlanta Braves to turn the moment sour here at Turner Field on Saturday night.
Lowe collected his second hit of the game, a sharp single to right field in the fourth inning that scored Jeff Francoeur from third base and it put the Braves in front to stay in an eventual 4-3 Atlanta victory.
“That just can’t happen,” a dejected Janssen said afterward. “You just can’t give up those hits.”
The interleague victory was the second in a row for the Braves (21-21) in the three-game set over the suddenly stumbling Blue Jays (27-19), who extended their season-high losing streak to five games with the setback.
The only upside for the Jays is that they are still clinging to first place in the American League East, ½-game ahead of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, who are tied for second.
The once productive Jays have now scored just eight runs over their last five games as the heart of their batting order grows colder with each passing game.
Alex Rios and Vernon Wells, Toronto’s No. 3 and 4 hitters respectively, went a combined 0-for-8 in the contest and are 0-for-16 over the first two games of the set.
In fairness to Janssen, it was a decent return after a long layoff.
Janssen went six innings and threw 78 pitches, allowing three of the Atlanta runs off eight hits while walking just one to absorb the loss.
“Yeah, it was okay,” Janssen said of his first start of the year. “I could have made some better pitches at times. But you don’t want to lose.”
B.J. Ryan, the former Blue Jays closer, came on in the seventh and served up a solo home-run shot to Kelly Johnson that provided Atlanta with its insurance marker.
For Ryan it was the first run he has allowed in four games since returning from the disabled list but it loomed large.
The Blue Jays rallied in the top of the ninth when Lyle Overbay singled home Adam Lind from second base that trimmed the Atlanta lead to one.
The Jays then loaded the bases with one out but Atlanta reliever Rafael Soriano ended the suspense, recording a huge strikeout of pinch hitter Kevin Millar before Marco Scutaro flew out to left.
The win went to Lowe (6-2) the crafty veteran who had 16 outs via the ground ball over 7.1-innings of work where he allowed two Toronto runs off five hits.
A fourth-round draft choice of the Jays in 2004, Janssen’s first full season with Toronto was in 2007 where he performed admirably working out of the bullpen, appearing in 70 games, compiling a 2-3 record with a 2.35 earned-run-average.
The long-term plan was always to convert him to a starter but that got derailed during spring training last year when Janssen was diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that required surgery.
That kept him out the entire season.
Toronto was hoping Janssen would be ready for the start of this year but he experienced a setback with the shoulder during spring training.
After five minor league starts between Single and Double-A, posting an impressive 0.76 ERA, with five walks and 17 strikeouts in 23.2 innings, it was felt Janssen was finally ready to try his hand back in the big leagues.
Last night’s start was his first appearance for Toronto since September 24th of 2007 against the New York Yankees. His last start came on July 24, 2006 against the Seattle Mariners.
The Jays used to pride themselves on being the highest scoring team in baseball.
That’s a distinction that is now held by the Tampa Bay Rays heading into Saturday’s play as the Toronto hitters have stopped hitting and the power numbers have dried up.
Toronto manager Cito Gaston said he was not fretting about the sudden decline in offensive punch.
“It will change, it can’t continue to go like that,” Gaston said optimistically. “I always go back and think about ‘91 We lost seven games in a row and we still came back and won our division.
“I always try to lean on that a little bit even though I say don’t look in the past.”
Things were looking good for Toronto early on Saturday night when Marco Scutaro doubled home two runs for a 2-0 Blue Jays lead in the top of the third.
Atlanta responded quickly, in the home half of the inning, when Casey Kotchman launched a double to the wall in straight-away centre that brought home two Atlanta baserunners to tie the game.
Lowe than provided the Braves with a 3-2 lead in the fourth when his single to right cashed Francoeur.
For Lowe it was only his fifth two-hit game in his career.
