Injury bug refuses to leave Blue Jays alone

Daulton Varsho latest victim as Jays lose game and centre fielder in Arizona

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Published Apr 18, 2026  •  5 minute read

Daulton Varsho, of the Toronto Blue Jays, hits a two-run homer in the first inning of a game against the Minnesota Twins at Rogers Centre in Toronto on April 11, 2026. Photo by Vaughn Ridley /Getty Images

At this point you have to be wondering what the Jays did to deserve all these injuries.

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A season that has been full of them added one more to the pile Friday night in Phoenix, Arizona when a presumably healthy Daulton Varsho failed to make it past two innings before leaving with what the team is calling left knee discomfort.

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The Jays centre fielder has been one of the few Jays who has been a consistent threat at the plate this year and even with his replacement Myles Straw more than filling Varsho’s offensive shoes on this night, the offensively challenged Jays could not keep up with the Diamondbacks who opened the three-game series with a 6-3 win.

How Varsho hurt himself remains a mystery. He struck out looking in his first and only at bat and made a catch in deep centre but other than that didn’t seem to do anything that would have put him in harm’s way. Varsho reportedly told his manager before the game the quad and the area going down into his knee was bothering him, so there’s a chance he just aggravated an already existing injury.

Officially Varsho is listed as day-to-day. The team will get a better idea of Varsho’s status for the rest of this series on Saturday.

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If Varsho’s injury requires a stint on the injured list, he would push Toronto’s injured list into double digits joining Alejandro Kirk, Addison Barger, George Springer, Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, Yimi Garcia, Cody Ponce, Anthony Santandar and Shane Bieber on that growing list.

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Injuries, though, are just the most obvious issue with the Jays at this point in the season.

They also have an issue at the plate and a surprising issue with their defence, which was such a strength just a season ago.

The Jays bats, at least the one’s that are still healthy, are not getting the job done. Credit Calgary-born Mike Soroka for a big chunk of that as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ starter improved to 4-0 on the year with a solid seven innings of five hit, two-run ball.

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Varsho is the fourth regular to leave the starting nine, which explains some of it, but this team is built around its depth and right now that depth is not producing.

Manager John Schneider wants his charges getting back to the pre-two strike aggressive nature they had in 2025 when they went to the World Series just coming up short in the seven-game championship.

Blue Jays’ manager John Schneider watches drills during a World Series baseball media day, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Toronto. David J. Phillip/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The defence lets them down

A strength of this ball club a year ago is right now a weakness. Counting Tyler Heineman’s borderline catcher’s interference call in the third inning Friday night, the Jays were tagged for three errors in the game but really only one that hurt them leading to a pair of  unearned runs.

Were the Jays scoring runs like they are capable of doing, an error like Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s in the seventh when he failed to transfer the ball from his glove to his hand and into the waiting glove of reliever Spencer Miles for the final out of the seventh inning would have been glossed over. This game would have remained a one-run affair. Instead the Diamondbacks tagged on two runs for a three-run lead that these days seems insurmountable for the Jays.

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Eric Lauer works against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the third inning of a game in Phoenix on Friday, April 17, 2026. Photo by Darryl Webb /The Associated Press

Back to openers

Eric Lauer made it very clear he’s no fan of the use of an opener – a reliever who starts the game taking care of the top of the order the first time around so the actual starter (Lauer in this case) doesn’t have to face that part of the lineup as many as three times in a game.

The strategy though more or less worked on Friday with Braydon Fisher getting through the first inning without any real damage and Lauer going the next five and limiting the opposition to three runs. Those six innings of three runs or less is considered a quality start and gives a team a real chance of a win, though that wasn’t the case Friday.

Lauer for his part was much better Friday than his past two starts, which were impacted by a flu bug the Jays’ starter was battling through.

His velocity was up and he looked more like the reliable lefty that he was a year ago in both starting and long relief.

Lauer hasn’t been told if he will again have an opener in his next start.

Schneider was asked if he would employ an opener for Max Scherzer who has been struggling so far this year. His reply was a terse “No” to that suggestion.

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage celebrates the end on the seventh inning in Game 5 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. AP Photo

Help on the way

Both Yesavage and Jose Berrios will make at least one more start in the minors before they return to the Major League level.

Yesavage will start Tuesday in Buffalo while Berrios makes a start Wednesday in Dunedin. Both are on the verge of returning but probably not until the Jays return from the nine-game road trip they are presently playing.

Quick hits

More anxiety for the Blue Jays fanbase in the eighth inning when first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a play at first and came away wincing after bending his finger back when it got caught up in the shirt of the Diamondbacks runner as he raced to the bag.

Guerrero told reporters post game he should be fine to play Saturday.

On a night when positives were tough to come by (Straw’s offence notwithstanding) Nathan Lukes provided one as he snapped an 0-for-22 skid with a pinch hit single that started a promising rally in the eighth that was eventually snuffed out. The relief of the hit was plain as Lukes and first base coach Mark Budzinski shared a good laugh at the bag.

Max Scherzer, of the Toronto Blue Jays, pitches in the first inning of their MLB game against the Minnesota Twins at Rogers Centre in Toronto on April 12, 2026. Photo by Cole Burston /Getty Images

Next up

The series continues with Game 2 of 3 featuring the struggling Scherzer (1-2, 9.58 ERA) taking on Zac Gallen (1-1, 3.60 ERA) in an 8:10 p.m. start at Chase Field in Phoenix.

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