Blue Jays’ bid to get back to .500 denied in 16-2 loss to Cubs

With the bullpen overworked, scheduled Saturday starter Patrick Corbin will be asked to go deep into the game

Published Jun 19, 2026  •  Last updated 10 minutes ago  •  5 minute read

Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on June 19, 2026 in Chicago. Photo by Geoff Stellfox /Getty Images

If you tuned in for the matinee game for the Blue Jays at historic Wrigley Field on Friday, it was unlikely you stuck around for too long.

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The Jays were out of this one rather quickly, and at no point did it ever feel like they would get back into what turned out to be a forgetful 16-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

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That the Jays came into this one just a game shy of getting back to .500 and were coming off a sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park only made it that much harder to watch.

The loss alone was tough to swallow, but the potential ripple effect on a bullpen that was required for 4 2/3 innings (outfielder Myles Straw recorded four outs after things got well out of hand) could still hurt throughout the rest of this weekend series in the Windy City.

Starter Kevin Gausman, coming off one of his best starts of the season against the New York Yankees, just didn’t have it. He lasted just two innings, walked four and gave up seven earned runs. Five regular relief pitchers, followed by Straw, went the rest of the way.

It was easily the worst start of Gausman’s season, but if the Jays can somehow get through the next few days with limited requirements from their bullpen, the carryover of this loss can at least be minimalized.

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Gausman walked the first two batters he faced, After retiring Michael Busch on a grounder which advanced the runners, outfielder Jesus Sanchez had an issue fielding a pop fly down the right-field line. At Wrigley Field, the fair/foul line is essentially right up against the wall that separates the stands from the field. The ball went off Sanchez’s glove and then off the wall, and by the time he corralled it, two runs had scored.

It was a bad start to a day that just continued that way.

Scheduled Saturday starter Patrick Corbin will be asked to go deep into the game and maybe, just maybe, the bullpen can get back on track.

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

Barring something unforeseen in his schedule side session on Saturday in Chicago, veteran right-hander Shane Bieber should make his 2026 Blue Jays debut on Monday when the team opens a home stand with a game against the Houston Astros. That’s the good news.

The bad news concerns reliever Yimi Garcia. The veteran bullpen stabilizer was making a rehab appearance on short rest in anticipation of returning to the Jays bullpen this weekend. But the velocity on his pitches was down significantly, and he had some soreness afterward, so the team has decided to let Garcia have at least one more rehab appearance with triple-A Buffalo, delaying what was thought to be a return this weekend.

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That became a bigger deal Friday when Gausman managed to last just two innings, forcing an extended workload on the bullpen.

Garcia will be back eventually, but it won’t be this weekend when the Jays could definitely use him.

NOT MORE BAD NEWS?

That home run that Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit in Boston on Thursday was an encouraging sign, but the encouragement was short-lived.

Guerrero appeared to reach for his back following a swing in the top of the sixth inning in Friday’s game. He wound up popping out on the play and when the Jays took the field in the bottom of the inning, it was Charles McAdoo at first base, with Guerrero remaining in the dugout.

The Jays slugger, who has been trying to find the thump in his swing all season, sat out a couple of games last weekend with back issues, and those appear to have returned.

Guerrero has all of four homers so far this season, his fourth coming in his first at-bat against Boston’s Sonny Gray on Thursday afternoon that cleared the Green Monster.

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We’ll see how serious this one turns out to be.

RIGHT BACK AT IT

Brandon Little’s return to the major leagues was only marginally less painful than his departure.

Little was outrighted to Buffalo in April after some early issues that included giving up three homers in his five appearances before his demotion. He was brought back to the majors on Friday with the Jays’ lone lefty in the bullpen, Mason Fluharty unavailable for Friday’s game. It came at the expense of Chad Dallas, who was sent down to make room for Little and who, as a long man, would have come in really handy Friday when Gausman was only able to get through two innings.

Little returned to the same 24.55 ERA he left on the board when he was sent down. On Friday, he gave up four runs on two hits and three walks in his one inning. His ERA now stands at an even 27.00.

Little faced eight batters and walked three, including one with the bases loaded in the sixth to bring home the eighth Cubs run. You can almost understand Little’s tentative approach. He got sent down after giving up all those bombs, but on a day that began with the Jays in trouble because of walks, more free passes was the last thing anyone wanted to see.

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DEFENCE STILL LACKING

Sanchez put himself in the crosshairs for criticism with a pair of plays in right field on Friday that weren’t made.

In the Cubs’ seven-run first inning, Sanchez failed to come up with what admittedly would have been a tough play on a fly ball right just in front of the wall that runs to the right field fence. Seiya Suzuki’s fly ball went off Sanchez’s glove and wound up being rule a two-run double.

It was worse in the seventh inning. With the game well out of hand, Sanchez took a bad route to a fly ball off the bat of Justin Dean that wound up going over his head for a bases-clearing three-run triple.

It was a tough sky in Chicago without question, but those are plays last year’s Jays made routinely. On a day where the Jays were embarrassed, it was just another element of the day’s proceedings that didn’t sit well.

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