TORONTO – A phrase thrown around an awful lot by the Toronto Blue Jays these days is that injury creates opportunity, and on multiple planes that applies to Joe Biagini.
The superb set-up man turned nascent starter is taking advantage of his desperation-driven promotion to the rotation, showing that his stuff, particularly his change-up, very much plays twice through the batting order, and perhaps more once he’s further built up. Concurrently, the Blue Jays front office is getting some meaningful looks at Biagini the starter, a role envisioned for him next year with Marco Estrada and Francisco Liriano pending free agents.
There are both short- and long-term plays at work here.
The five shutout innings Biagini threw against the Seattle Mariners in Friday night’s 4-0 victory will only further encourage the endeavour. He allowed only four hits, walked none and struck out three in a tidy 68-pitch effort, leaving with one out in the sixth after Jean Segura singled up the middle. That pushed his pitch count up 16 from his first career big-league start Sunday in Tampa Bay, and positions him to be in the 80-range Wednesday in Atlanta, when he can really take a step forward.
Biagini has already eased the aftertaste of bad-movie fill-in starts from Mat Latos and Casey Lawrence, primarily riding a fastball-change-up combo Friday night at the behest of catcher Luke Maile with his curveball and cutter sprinkled in.
"We didn’t specifically plan to use it more but it’s definitely something we talked about wanting to work in regularly," said Biagini. "That’s just how things played out early in the game, it seemed like it was getting good action and I was locating it down pretty well so we stuck with that. Later in the game we tried to mix it up a little more but really, by that time there wasn’t a lot of opportunity left. … I would like to continue to improve that and not be afraid to throw it."
Last season as a reliever, he largely mothballed the pitch, but focused on it this spring. Four of his seven swinging strikes against the Mariners came on the change.
"It’s a great mix when it’s working," said manager John Gibbons. "He didn’t throw a whole lot of curveballs and he’s got a good one but … the change-up can be one of the best pitches in baseball if you’ve got a good one. His was really diving, keeping it down. But really, he’s got the whole package."
A Mariners lineup minus Robinson Cano threatened him just once, Jarrod Dyson’s double off a diving Ezequiel Carrera’s glove put men on second and third with one out. But Segura smoked a change-up at 99.4 mph to third base, where Darwin Barney knocked it down, looked Taylor Motter back to the bag and threw across the infield for one out before Steve Pearce lumbered in from left to make a diving grab on a Ben Gamel’s blooper.
That kept a 1-0 lead in check for the Blue Jays, who improved to 15-21 with a third straight win and a ninth victory in 13 outings. They added on in the bottom half of the frame when Jose Bautista took two sliders off the plate from Christian Bergman – one of four replacement starters in a Mariners rotation borrowing heavily from triple-A Tacoma – before pummelling a change-up off the foul pole in left for his fourth homer of the season.
Their other two runs were products of the kind of crisp execution they so often lacked during their miserable opening to the campaign.
In the second, Barney followed leadoff singles by Ryan Goins and Pearce with a sacrifice bunt that set up Devon Travis’ RBI groundout to shortstop. Then in the sixth, Goins singled with one out, took second on a passed ball, moved to third on Barney’s single and scored on a Travis fly ball to left.
Rather than trying to force the big hit, they took what the game presented.
In many ways, Biagini’s push into the rotation is based on what the season presented. Unable to stopgap their way through the absences of J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez, they needed a better solution and Biagini fit needs both present and future.
"He’s got four plus pitches, the heater is 94, I’ve never faced him but it looks like hitting a bowling ball, he’s got a great cutter, he’s got a curveball that can make you flinch, he’s got a great change-up that he’s been using a lot more as a starter – he’s fantastic, man," said Travis. "The things he’s been able to do for this ball club over the past two years and to be able to step into the starting rotation, that’s not easy, especially when you’re not expecting it."
Biagini’s fastball peaked at 95 mph in the first inning but was down to 91 in the fifth, an unsurprising dip given that he keeps pushing his pitch count higher. Gibbons said he noticed Biagini’s secondary pitches creeping up in the zone later in the game, a sure sign of fatigue.
"I never really feel tired at any point, the arm just starts to feel a little looser," said Biagini. "It used to feel that way when I was starting before and it’s just a matter of being in a certain role for a while and starting to build up to more of a set (workload). It’s something you have to learn to adjust to because there are going to be games in the future where you have to be aware of that and make adjustments, but something you also hope that with more chances to start, it will come along."
How long he remains a starter is unclear with Sanchez due to be activated Sunday and Happ throwing at 120 feet and set to get back on the mound for the first time since his elbow injury Sunday or Monday. The lefty is essentially looking at a build-up from scratch, so he’s still about a month away if everything goes without a hitch.
With Liriano also on the disabled list (his shoulder tightness isn’t considered serious), the Blue Jays will need Biagini to remain in the rotation for the foreseeable future, giving them a quality of replacement they can’t otherwise replicate, and some invaluable information for down the road, too.
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