Toronto Blue Jays fall to Los Angeles Dodgers for sixth straight loss

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (left) can't get to ball thrown by pitcher Kevin Gausman (not shown) as Los Angeles Dodgers' Alex Freeland (76) reaches on a bunt during third inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO — Nothing seems to be going right for the Toronto Blue Jays these days.

The injury list keeps getting longer. The losses keep piling up. Even a managerial ejection couldn’t spark the club.

Toronto dropped a 4-1 decision to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night in a game that saw skipper John Schneider get the heave-ho midway through his team’s sixth straight defeat.

“It felt kind of nice to get a little frustration out,” said Schneider, who threw his hat to the ground while arguing a balk call.

Before the game, outfielder Addison Barger (ankle) was placed on the 10-day injured list. Schneider also said catcher Alejandro Kirk (thumb) would miss six weeks and right-hander Cody Ponce (knee) would miss six months.

The feel-good vibes from opening night when the team unveiled its American League championship banner seem like a distant memory.

Toronto opened the season with a three-game sweep but has since lost series to two of the game’s weakest teams last year (Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox) and are now on the verge of being swept by the Dodgers.

Los Angeles won the last two games of the World Series here last fall and has outscored Toronto 18-3 in the two games since.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who earned the win as a starter in Game 6 of the Fall Classic before picking up a relief victory in Game 7, was at it again Tuesday night in front of a near-sellout crowd of 40,971.

He delivered six-plus innings of one-run ball on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts. Hyeseong Kim scored twice for the Dodgers and Edwin Diaz worked the ninth inning for his fourth save.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the seventh with nobody out but couldn’t score. Toronto also brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth but Tyler Heineman struck out to end it.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Jays in a Wednesday matinee at Rogers Centre. Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani was scheduled to start against Toronto right-hander Dylan Cease.

The Dodgers improved to 9-2 on the season. They are 5-0 on the road and 3-2 in interleague play.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman allowed three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings while striking out five.

“Everybody knows what we’re going through right now,” he said. “I mean the last week has been pretty rough. We’ve lost a lot of guys. A lot of the guys are sick and banged up, but that’s no excuse.

“We’ve got to go out there and do our best to try to win ball games.”

There’s no reason to hit the panic button after a 4-7 start, but there is room for improvement in several areas.

A lack of offence has been glaring of late. The Blue Jays, who have struggled mightily with runners in scoring position, left eight runners on base.

“The way out of it is someone needs to get the big hit,” Schneider said. “There’s opportunities that are out there and it’s just a matter of who’s it going to be?”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press