TORONTO – No Toronto Blue Jays reliever has been as busy so far this season as Ryan Tepera, who leads the bullpen with 58.1 innings pitched over 51 appearances, another team-high he shares with closer Roberto Osuna.
In Thursday’s 4-0 win over the New York Yankees, when he threw a scoreless eighth inning, the right-hander pitched on one day of rest for the 18th time. He’s pitched on consecutive days 11 times and made nine appearances on two days of rest, all of which has made learning how to stay both fresh and effective – he’s posted a 3.39 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP with 61 strikeouts – a process.
"I’ve definitely made some adjustments – with the workload I’ve had personally, I’ve had to," he says. "One thing I’ve fine-tuned is getting ready to go into that inning, cutting down and saving bullets in the bullpen. There have been a lot of times where I get up hot, like (Thursday), I was up hot in the seventh and then I go sit down and I’m up in the eighth, so it’s still a learning process, no doubt about it. I feel great. I think sometimes I start to overthrow and my stuff gets worst. I felt pretty good (Thursday), I overthrew a couple of cutters that had that little rolling action, but I’m going to go out there and compete and that’s the main thing."
With so little time for recovery, the tweaks to Tepera’s routine extend well beyond his warmups before entering a game. He closely monitors all his work, scaling back as he sees fit.
"I’ve definitely cut down on throwing before the game when you’re out for pitchers’ stretch, not long-tossing, getting good fastballs and cutters ready to go and shutting it down," he explained. "That’s saving bullets, too."
Tepera had his good stuff against the Yankees, hitting 96.2 mph with his sinker, while sitting 95. Eight of his 19 pitches were cutters, which averaged 87.4 mph, mixing in his four-seamer and slider around that.
"Any pitcher is going to have their days when they don’t feel their best or 100 per cent. I’m still learning that when you have those days, it’s not a matter of overthrowing, it’s backing off and executing the pitch," Tepera said. "If it’s 91, 92 that day, then you run with it, instead of overthrowing and trying to make it 94, 95. That’s when you get in trouble."
SAVING THE PEN:
To some degree, the quantity of innings Marco Estrada provided the Blue Jays on Thursday were perhaps more important than the quality, providing a break for a largely beleaguered bullpen. By throwing seven shutout innings in the 4-0 win, manager John Gibbons didn’t have to work around fatigued arms to get the ball into the hands of his lock-down duo of Ryan Tepera and Roberto Osuna.
"It’s huge," Gibbons said of Estrada’s performance. "We’re a little bit lean down there … (Danny) Barnes is a key guy, he’s coming off that injury, Tep’s been great, he was good again (Thursday), Osuna, he got out of a little bit of a jam but he struck out the side. (The starters) set the tone for everything. If you’ve got to get to your bullpen too early, it’s going to bite you. Naturally that game is getting out of hand anyway, but it’s so important to keep those guys fresh so when you do get a lead, regardless of the size of it, those guys are ready to go."
The late-inning group has been thinned out by the trade of Joe Smith and stretching out of Joe Biagini. Dominic Leone, Barnes and Aaron Loup have all logged a heavier burden in their absence.
"The last couple of days we’ve had a lot of work, and throughout the whole season, obviously," said Tepera. "Anytime you get a starter to go seven innings like that and pitch a shutout it’s unbelievable, it helps the bullpen a lot, saves us, and not just for that day, but also later down the road."
ROWLEY TO GET THE START:
Chris Rowley will become one of the unlikeliest starting pitchers in Blue Jays history when he makes his big-league debut Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 26-year-old right-hander from Atlanta is an undrafted free agent signed in 2013 who missed two years of pro ball fulfilling his duties to the American army as a graduate of West Point Military Academy. Despite that and a fastball that sits 91-92, he posted a strong season at single-A Dunedin last year, starting at double-A New Hampshire this season before moving up to triple-A Buffalo and, now, Toronto.
Between the two levels he posted a 2.29 ERA and 1.016 WHIP with 90 strikeouts in 106.1 innings over 27 games, 11 of them starts.
"I don’t know a lot about him, but he’s done a hell of a job to get this promotion," said Gibbons. "He’s got a good feel for how to pitch. It’s a pretty good story."
SHORT HOPS:
Blue Jays outfielder Darrell Ceciliani underwent surgery on the labrum in his left shoulder Wednesday. He’s been on the disabled list since separating his shoulder while hitting a home run in Atlanta on May 18. … Right-hander Mike Bolsinger cleared waivers and was outrighted to triple-A Buffalo.
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