TORONTO – Fresh off the loss of Brandon Morrow to injury, the Toronto Blue Jays now have the health of Kyle Drabek to worry about, too.
The right-hander left Wednesday afternoon’s 6-2 loss to Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals after feeling a “pop” in the back of his right elbow while throwing an 0-1 fastball to Michael Morse in the fifth inning, walking off the mound with his head down and trainer Hap Hudson by his side.
The two entered the dugout and descended directly to the clubhouse, where initial tests showed no loss of strength or instability in the elbow. More tests were scheduled for later Wednesday to help determine his status.
“I had the Tommy John in ’07, it’s nothing like that, but it’s always frightening,” Drabek said afterwards. “Not too concerned. Once I ran through all the tests and I was strong, it was a relief. …
“It’s just a little sore right now, obviously I want to go back out and pitch but it’s up the trainers and coaches.”
The potential loss of Drabek is another punch in the face to a Blue Jays team already reeling from the indefinite absence of Morrow and now mired in a rut of six losses in seven games that’s dropped them below .500 for the first time all year.
They’ll have Thursday off to regroup before the Philadelphia Phillies arrive for a three-game series that opens Friday, and a debate over whether Jesse Chavez or Brett Cecil fills in for Morrow may soon morph into a discussion over whether or not both are now headed north from triple-A Las Vegas.
Relatively healthy most of the season, the Blue Jays are now facing their biggest test of adversity, with Morrow joining closer Sergio Santos and starter Dustin McGowan on the DL, and perhaps Drabek to follow suit.
“Very difficult series obviously,” said manager John Farrell. “When you get swept at home it’s never a good thing. We’ve got to play better, bottom line. We’ve run into two very good teams in Atlanta and Washington, both, but still I firmly believe this is a very good team in and of itself and we have to do better. …
“We’ve got to play better, we’ve got to pitch better we’ve got to hit better.”
#BlueJays Drabek felt “popping sensation” in his elbow. Tests tmrw. Farrell says he’s in no pain at the moment.
— Mike Cormack (@MikeCormack) June 13, 2012
#bluejays Drabek says pain is in different area than his prior Tommy John surgery. Encouraged by post-game strength in arm.
— Mike Cormack (@MikeCormack) June 13, 2012
#bluejays Drabek: “It’s pretty frightening. I had the Tommy John in ’07. It’s nothing like that. But it’s always frightening.”
— Mike Cormack (@MikeCormack) June 13, 2012
—
THE BIG PICTURE: The Blue Jays (31-32) suffered their first sweep at Rogers Centre since last June 10-12 against Boston, falling to 3-6 in interleague play this season before a crowd of 41,667. The Nationals (38-23), meanwhile, won their sixth in a row, a streak that’s helped them build a bit of a cushion atop the National League East.
—
THE STRASBURG SHOW: The advice given to Blue Jays hitters against Strasburg was, “Go get that first fastball,” according to Farrell, and they certainly tried, swinging at the first pitch in 10 of their 23 at-bats against the overpowering right-hander.
That approach was taken since opposing hitters were batting .310 versus Strasburg when swinging at first pitch coming into the game, and those numbers held with the Blue Jays managing three of their five hits against him on the opening offering.
Still, with Strasburg (8-1) sitting around 95-96 m.p.h., topping out at 97 while mixing in both his change and breaking ball, he gave up very little beyond that. The damage against him came during the second, when Brett Lawrie’s groundout cashed in a leadoff triple by Rajai Davis, while one batter later Jose Bautista turned a 2-0 changeup into his team-leading 19th home run.
Strasburg allowed just two runners to reach after that, and the 4-2 lead handed him in the fourth was never threatened as he struck out eight, starting off 17 of his 23 batters with strikes. Nats manager Davey Johnson pulled him after six innings because of a cut on his ace’s middle finger that opened while he was trimming a ragged nail.
Despite Strasburg’s lobbying that only one pitch was affected by the cut, Johnson chose to play it safe.
“He said, I just won’t throw that pitch and I said, ‘No, you won’t throw any more pitches, we’ve got a long way to go. You pitched a heck of a ballgame, we’ll save it for you,'” said Johnson. “It’s a little slight cut and he’s going to have an extra day with the day off (Thursday) and it should calm down.”
—
THE ARMS: Prior to his injury, Drabek (4-7) remained inconsistent on the mound, overpowering at times, very hittable at others.
The pivotal damage against him came in the fourth when Tyler Moore followed Danny Espinosa’s one-out single with his first career home run, putting the Nationals right back in front after the Blue Jays had rallied to tie things up.
Drabek surrendered seven hits and two walks over 4.1 innings, striking one out. The Blue Jays are now 5-8 in his 13 starts this season.
“I thought things were going OK,” said Drabek. “I tried to throw an inside cutter to Moore and it didn’t cut and it just sat there for him to hit and he put a good swing on it.”
Aaron Laffey, up with the Blue Jays for the third time this season, took over from Drabek and followed with three innings of two-run ball, allowing solo shots to Moore and Ian Desmond. Moore, a 25-year-old first base prospect with 86 homers in 476 minor-league games, is the first Nats player to go deep in the same contest this year.
—
THE BATS: The Blue Jays managed just seven hits in the series finale and were 0-for-6 hitting with men in scoring position, finishing the series a dreadful 2-for-16 on that front.
They didn’t have a chance to deliver a knockout punch Wednesday, but they’ve squandered several of them during their recent struggles.
“When we’ve scored, it’s with the exception of Game 3 down in Atlanta, it seems that it’s been because of the longball or a home run,” said Farrell. “But to get a key hit at those critical junctures of a game, that’s what’s been elusive. … Not to take anything away from Washington, they made quality pitches against us for three straight games here, that’s a talented staff, but I feel like this is a talented offence as well.”
Bautista’s homer, No. 132 with the Blue Jays, moved him past Ernie Whitt for seventh on the club’s all-time list.
—
STARTING STAFF: Brett Cecil bolstered his case to cover for Morrow by allowing three runs over six innings in Las Vegas’s 9-3 win over Tucson on Tuesday night. He allowed 11 hits, five of them from the sixth inning on, when all the damage against him was done.
“Solid,” was how Farrell described the reports on him. “He gave up a high number of hits, benefitted from some good defence behind him, but seemingly he carried his stuff through the sixth inning, started to falter a little bit in the seventh, but coming on the heels of a long travel day, he went out and through the ball very good. His breaking stuff had much tighter action to it.”
With the Blue Jays off Thursday, they won’t need a fifth starter until Tuesday, although Farrell said whoever is called up to cover for Morrow is likely to start Monday in Milwaukee, although Tuesday is also a possibility.
Henderson Alvarez is schedule to pitch Sunday against the Phillies, against Kyle Kendrick. Drew Hutchison starts the opener against Vance Worley, while Ricky Romero takes on Cliff Lee on Saturday.
Yan Gomes, meanwhile, was recalled to fill Morrow’s roster spot. Though he was optioned Monday, he was allowed to return without the 10-day wait in the minors because of the injury-created opening.
