CHICAGO — Perhaps the only thing keeping designated hitter Kendrys Morales from making his second pitching appearance of the season Sunday was a good, long outing from Ryan Borucki.
Fortunately, the Toronto Blue Jays got it, as Borucki — a native of Illinois pitching in front of upwards of 50 family and friends — threw a quality start for the fifth time in his first six big-league outings, allowing only two runs over six innings.
“We needed that,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “But we felt good, though, with Borucki pitching today.”
That the Blue Jays ultimately won, 7-4, on the strength of a ninth-inning rally that included a go-ahead, two-run Brandon Drury double, is no big deal in the grand scheme of a squandered season. That the club got through it while using only two relievers was a more meaningful victory on the day.
Such was the status of Toronto’s bullpen Sunday, which, in spite of being nine pitchers deep at the moment, was in no condition to pick up a starter after a disastrous outing. Saturday’s bullpen day — the club’s second this week — required Blue Jays manager John Gibbons to use seven pitchers to get through eight innings. In the aftermath, two relievers were unavailable entirely, and four others were classified under use-only-if-absolutely-necessary status.
Shortly after Saturday’s game, Gibbons called Joe Biagini — who’s allowed runs in three of his last four outings — into his office and told him he to be ready to close Sunday’s game if needed. Of course, if things played out differently, he had to be prepared for mop-up duty as well.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. Relievers crave certainty, gravitating to roles in which they can have some idea of when they might enter a ballgame. Over the last several weeks — and, really, for most of the season — Blue Jays relievers have had anything but.
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Injuries to Toronto’s starting staff have played a large part in this. Aaron Sanchez and Marco Estrada are both on the disabled list, while Marcus Stroman missed significant time earlier in the season. Jaime Garcia, projected to be the club’s fifth starter, has also spent time on the DL, and been mostly ineffective when available to start anyway, pitching to a 6.16 ERA before being relegated to relief duty.
Only two teams across MLB have gotten fewer innings out of their starting staff than the Blue Jays this season. And one of them, the Tampa Bay Rays, frequently starts relievers with the intention of them going only an inning or two. Meanwhile, Blue Jays relievers have had to throw the 11th most innings of any team in baseball. Take out the unconventional Rays, who lead MLB by a mile, and Toronto’s 10th.
And it’s getting worse. Through Saturday, Blue Jays relievers had thrown 92.2 innings in July, the second-highest in baseball, again to the Rays. The club’s starters — having thrown the second-fewest in the month after, you guessed it, the Rays — had barely contributed more, with 97.2 innings pitched in the month. Thursday’s trade of J.A. Happ, who led all Blue Jays starters in innings pitched, won’t exactly help.
It takes a toll. And not only physically. Saturday night, after throwing three scoreless innings in the first start of his career, John Axford shared his thoughts on the way bullpen usage is evolving in today’s game. In talking about the wide array of situations modern relievers have to be prepared for, and the growing tendency of managers to deploy bullpen arms based on leverage rather than roles, he hit on something that’s probably relatable for a number of pitchers in Toronto bullpen.
“I think it becomes more of a mental approach than it does a physical approach,” Axford said. “You’re still going to throw in 65 or 70 games a year — you’ll ultimately still have the same amount of innings. But they might be in the seventh, they might be in the sixth, they might be in the ninth. That can be just as taxing mentally as physically because of — at least for me — not quite understanding or knowing when to prepare.
“Being out in the bullpen, you have a lot of down time. You kind of know when you’re going to be going into the game. And if you have the opportunity to loosen yourself up a little bit — like, mentally — and then knowing when you have to focus, that’s a huge thing. And if you don’t have that, and you always have to kind of mentally be on, that’s a really big grind. And I think that can take a lot out of a person.”
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Just how much has been taken out of Toronto’s bullpen arms, and the club’s pitching staff in general, will become evident over the final 58 games of the season. But as things stand now, it’s not looking good. And things will get worse before they get better.
Some of the club’s most reliable relievers — like Axford, Tyler Clippard, and Aaron Loup — could soon depart in trades, which will exacerbate the effect. Estrada could be moved, as well, and Sanchez may not return until September.
At least there’s Borucki, a homegrown prospect who’s arrived in the majors and looked every bit a strong part of the Blue Jays future. Pitching with uncommon composure and confidence for a 24-year-old, Borucki has yet to allow a home run over his first 35 MLB innings, posting 7.2 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, and a 2.51 FIP which suggest his 2.83 ERA could stand to be even better.
“Another great start,” Gibbons said. “You don’t even recognize where he came from or what his experience level is any more. Because he can pitch.”
Sunday, Borucki had some of his best stuff yet, earning 15 swinging strikes, including 11 with his change-up. He threw 60 per cent of his pitches for strikes in all, and showed an intriguing ability to add and subtract with his sinker, fluctuating its velocity from as low as 89 m.p.h. and up to 93 throughout his outing.
Borucki’s slider, a still developing pitch, was much better than it has been in previous outings, as well, and the rookie used it just enough to keep it in the minds of hitters.
“I think my change-up was really working today. It was keeping them off balance and keeping them off my fastball,” Borucki said. “That combo of change-up away, fastball inside, really was working today.”
