The Toronto Blue Jays had mixed results against the Boston Red Sox, dropping two of three this weekend to fall below the .500 mark.
The Blue Jays displayed some pitching issues throughout the series but salvaged a victory Sunday with a dominant outing from starter Marco Estrada in his season debut to avoid a series sweep.
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Here’s what stood out from the Blue Jays-Red Sox series.
Big power masking medicore offensive start:
It would be easy to simply look at the Blue Jays run total (29, which ranks second the American League) and assume all is well with the bats.
Realistically, this is a minor concern and will unlikely persist over a longer period of time, but the club has not hit very well throughout the first seven games of the season.
Here’s a closer look at the numbers.
The team ranks 24th in the majors in on-base percentage (.291 — which is by no means a good number) and have relied too much on the long ball as 62 percent of their total runs have come via home runs (18-of-29).
It’s just seven games so the team will undoubtedly get better in this area, as the Blue Jays are at their best, from an offensive standpoint, when they combine the home run power with getting on base at a much higher clip.
Bullpen provides mixed results:
The Blue Jays had difficulty getting to closer Roberto Osuna in the final two games of the Rays’ series and the issue carried over to the home opener Friday night, in which Toronto blew a 7–2 lead in an 8–7 loss.
Jesse Chavez gave up a grand slam after Marcus Stroman ran into some trouble in the sixth inning and both Drew Storen and Brett Cecil had trouble slowing down the Red Sox lineup.
However, it’s far too early in the season to draw any real conclusions. In fact, the track record of the bullpen suggests that its performance should largely improve over time as the relievers settle into their new roles.
It’s easy to forget that the Blue Jays have five (and six if you count injured pitcher Franklin Morales) newcomers in the bullpen, two of which were starters for most of the spring, so John Gibbons is still sorting through how to best utilize his relief corps, which is one of the primary strengths of the Blue Jays manager.
There are going to be ups and downs with the bullpen group, that’s part of the volatility of the position. So take a deep breath. Settle down. The sky is not falling.
For context, Cecil started out very slow last season (as Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair mentioned in his Monday column) before becoming one of the most effective left-handed relievers in all of the majors. It’s a long season.
Sunday’s victory was at least step in the right direction, specifically for Storen, who is a key piece this season. But it’s fair to say the Blue Jays will need more reliable production from the unit overall as the schedule for Toronto remains difficult throughout the first two months of the season.
Estrada starts where he left off:
Estrada was the Blue Jays’ best pitcher in the playoffs last season and he opened the 2016 season in equally impressive fashion, allowing just five hits with no earned runs, eight strikeouts, and just two walks over seven innings against a powerful Red Sox lineup.
Estrada commanded his pitches, his change-up was very good, and he worked well with catcher Russell Martin, which helped (at the very least for now) shed the narrative that the veteran pitcher wouldn’t be as effective without Dioner Navarro behind the plate.
Who knows if the good fortune will last throughout the season but the Blue Jays should be very pleased with the early result, especially considering how little Estrada pitched throughout spring training.
His next start will be Saturday against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Red Sox are going to be a tough opponent:
It’s early, but Boston appears to have a far more formidable roster than they did last season.
The lineup is deep and full of quality hitters, as evidenced by the 16 runs they scored in the first two games of the series. The defence is sound (especially with Pablo Sandoval not playing every day at third base) and the bullpen is a far more stable unit with Craig Kimbrel as the closer.
The big question surrounding Boston is whether the club’s starting pitchers beyond David Price are good enough to hold up in the AL East and I remain skeptical of the Red Sox rotation—especially after watching Joe Kelly pitch on Friday night—despite a strong start from Steven Wright on Sunday.
Biagini impresses:
One of the bright spots for the Blue Jays in the Red Sox series was the performance of little-known reliever Joe Biagini, acquired by Toronto in the Rule 5 draft.
With the team carrying an extra reliever, Biagini was essentially pitching for his job and he began his MLB career by allowing one hit and no earned runs with two strikeouts in two innings.
In his first inning on Friday night, he came into a big spot—a one-run game in the ninth–and got Xander Bogaerts and Hanley Ramirez to ground out and struck out David Ortiz. Not bad for the 25-year-old.
Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith wrote about Biagini in a fascinating profile this weekend.
