Blue Jays have first-whirl problems

Kiner-Falefa gets a shot in the leadoff spot on a team that is second to last in starting games

- MIKE WILNER

Nothing else has worked, so why not take the guy who was batting ninth on Friday and lead him off on Saturday?

That’s what the Blue Jays did in an attempt to get their offence going and snap a four-game losing streak, and while it kind of worked, it also didn’t work in a 6-3 loss in Cleveland. The Jays fell to a season-worst six games under .500.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa was in the leadoff spot, the first time he had hit anywhere outside the bottom three spots in the order this year. He struck out to begin the game, continuing a brutal run for the Jays.

The top of the order has been a black hole all year, regardless of who has hit there. It’s easy to blame George Springer, who occupied that spot for the first quarter of the season and batted just .196 with a paltry .266 on-base percentage before being dropped in the order, but whoever has been there since (mostly Davis Schneider) hasn’t hit either, with the exception of Spencer Horwitz, who has gone 10for-27 (.370) in seven starts in the top spot.

Even with Horwitz’s contributions, the Jays had managed just a combined .212 batting average with a .610 on-base-plus-slugging percentage out of the leadoff spot going into Saturday.