TORONTO – In a series filled with stars, a couple left-handed relievers could make all of the difference for the Toronto Blue Jays.
When the Blue Jays open the ALDS Thursday they’ll face a Texas Rangers lineup featuring a wide variety of left-handed bats including Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Josh Hamilton, Mitch Moreland and Rougned Odor. That means Brett Cecil and Aaron Loup are expecting to see plenty of action.
For Cecil, the playoffs are coming at a time that he’s pitching extremely well. The 29-year-old closed out the season by allowing zero earned runs with 44 strikeouts in his final 37 appearances.
“It’s a bit surprising,” Cecil said. “I knew it was in there. I didn’t know it was going to last as long as it did, but I’m very happy it did. Hopefully I can continue it in the postseason.”
Cecil describes the strong finish as “very gratifying” considering he experienced shoulder soreness in spring training and lost the closer’s job in April. But while he was an obvious choice for any playoff roster, Aaron Loup wasn’t sure until Tuesday afternoon if he’d even make the team.
“That’s happened to me a lot of times,” Loup said. “In spring training two years ago I didn’t know if I was actually going to make the team and sometime in the last four or five days Gibby goes ‘hey, you know you’re on the team, right?’ I assumed, but nobody ever told me anything.”
Loup couldn’t afford to make any assumptions after a tough season in which he allowed a career-high six home runs, posted a 4.46 ERA and was even optioned to triple-A. In the end, the Blue Jays decided they needed Loup on their roster against Texas’ lefty-heavy lineup. He still cut down on walks dramatically and didn’t allow a left-handed hitter to homer against him.
“He’s back throwing strikes,” Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said. “I do think there’s been a bit of bad luck there with his year overall and I think he’s liable to get hot at any time. As much as he’s been inconsistent, his ERA ended up in the mid-fours and the numbers against left-handers overall were still fairly good.”
This much is certain: Loup offers an uncomfortable look for opposing hitters.
“Submarine lefty, not too many guys are going to get good hits off of him unless it’s a rinky dink hit,” Blue Jays left fielder Ben Revere said.
Loup made 12 appearances without allowing an earned run after returning to the roster in early September. He pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and one walk while striking out seven. During that time he resumed throwing a slower slider that breaks more like a slurve instead of a tighter, faster slider.
“For the most part everything seemed to go well,” Loup said. “I got the ground balls that I’m used to getting along with a few strikeouts against the lefties.”
Yes it’s a small sample, but the Blue Jays can also point to the fact that lefties have hit .206 with a .555 OPS against Loup in his career. While manager John Gibbons will ultimately determine how the Blue Jays use Loup, it’s safe to assume he won’t face many right-handed hitters in big spots. “I think — not speaking for Gibby — the thought will be to use him against left-handers,” Anthopoulos said.
The likes of Aaron Sanchez, Mark Lowe and Liam Hendriks are considerably more effective against right-handed hitters, but Anthopoulos says the Blue Jays can also mix in LaTroy Hawkins against the Texas lefties. Still, neutralizing the Rangers isn’t as simple now as it was at the beginning of the season. They were extremely left-handed early on, which made things relatively simple for opposing teams with decent left-handed relievers.
“It was a pretty clear flaw early,” Rangers GM Jon Daniels said. “Don’t look at anything else, just look at the number of left-handed starts against each team. It’ll tell you what the league thinks about it.”
The contrast is stark. Texas faced left-handed starters 66 times compared to the 35 times Toronto faced southpaws. In other words, opposing teams were doing everything possible to take advantage of the Rangers’ one-sided lineup. But now that Mike Napoli is around and Adrian Beltre is hitting again, opposing teams can’t manage against the Rangers so simply.
“Nap has power. Right-handed power. With him and Adrian, you can’t pitch around it,” Daniels said. “It’s something (other teams) have got to be aware of.”
The Blue Jays are well aware of the threat the Rangers’ lineup poses. And even though Texas has more balance now than before, Cecil and Loup still have the chance to figure prominently in the outcome of the ALDS.
