The Toronto Blue Jays didn’t have much going this past weekend until J.A. Happ bailed them out Sunday with a strong pitching performance to avoid a series sweep against the Seattle Mariners.
The Blue Jays dropped two of three games, including a blowout loss Saturday afternoon, and remain in second Wild Card position, 3.0 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.
Here are five takeaways from the Mariners series:
Happ continues to cruise
Happ’s performance Sunday against his former club was the Blue Jays’ best development of the series, as the left-hander allowed just one hit in a 2-0 victory. He won his seventh straight decision and surpassed his career-high win total of 12, set in 2009 with the Philadelphia Philles. Over the last calendar year, Happ is 20-6 with a 3.12 ERA in 193.1 innings pitched. He has, no doubt, been one of the best free agent signings of the winter.
Storen move reaffirms need for bullpen help
The Blue Jays pulled the plug on reliever Drew Storen Sunday, designating him for assignment after a rough stint with the club in which he posted 6.21 ERA in 33.1 innings. Storen was mostly relegated to mop-up duty, which spoke volumes about the Blue Jays’ confidence in him.
In the meantime, the Blue Jays still need to get better in the bullpen, despite a solid showing Sunday, recent improvements from Jason Grilli, and lefty Brett Cecil starting to show signs of life. The bullpen help could either come via trade or with Aaron Sanchez moving out of the starting rotation. Sanchez would slot in as the eighth inning option for Toronto and at the same time, would push everyone down a spot, strengthening the entire unit.
Cruz fares well in Toronto
Seattle outfielder Nelson Cruz loves hitting against the Blue Jays. The veteran slugger had four hits over the weekend, including two home runs and seven RBI on Saturday in a 14-5 victory for the Mariners. Throughout his career against the Blue Jays, Cruz has a highly-impressive .315/.367/.606 batting line with 21 home runs in 74 games. Cruz now has 24 home runs on the season which ranks fourth in the American League, behind Edwin Encarnacion, Todd Frazier of the Chicago White Sox, and Mark Trumbo of the Baltimore Orioles.
Edwin goes deep…again
Speaking of Encarnacion, he drilled his 27th home run of the season on Sunday and, much like Happ, has been incredibly productive over the last calendar year. Only Chris Davis (48 home runs) has homered more times than Encarnacion (47) since last July 25, a period that’s seen the Blue Jays slugger produce a batting line of .293/.388/.612 with 5.7 WAR.
Bautista on the way?
The Blue Jays are expecting to receive some help on offence Monday, when Jose Bautista is set to return to Toronto. Bautista played three games with triple-A Buffalo, where he acknowledged that the toe that sidelined him for a month is not yet 100 per cent but said he feels ready to play in the majors. He had just one hit in 11 plate appearances over the weekend and had some issues with a fly ball in right field on Friday night. Once he returns, Bautista is expected to play right field on a regular basis and move back into the lead-off spot.