ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Just as Daniel Norris allayed worries about a rough start and a period of dead arm, a costly outing by Miguel Castro raised a whole new set of concerns for the Toronto Blue Jays.
A strong seven-inning rebound effort by the left-hander went to waste when his fellow freshman couldn’t escape a two-on, two-out jam in the eighth inning, resulting in a gutting 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.
Putting all this one on Castro wouldn’t be fair – he inherited two runners that reached on seeing-eye hits off Roberto Osuna and Brett Cecil, who took the loss – but when he needed to make a big pitch he could not.
James Loney ripped the 20-year-old’s 94 mph heater over the heart of the plate to right for a double that tied the game, and Tim Beckham followed by blasting a 94 mph 3-0 heater off the left-field wall for a two-run double that gave Tampa Bay its first lead of the night, blows the Blue Jays didn’t recover from.
Castro has now given up six hits, including two homers and a double, and three earned runs over 3.1 innings in his last four games, with two blown saves. The Blue Jays circled the wagons around him afterwards.
"Let’s be fair to the kid, he’s been pretty damn good," said manager John Gibbons. "He’s a baby, he’s done a good job, he’s closed out some games for us. This is the big-leagues, man. I like everything he’s done, but he’s going to give up hits now and then. We’re going to need outs from all the guys in the ‘pen, we really do. It’s a young group for the most part and you’re going to have your pains."
Do those pains merit a reorganization of the bullpen?
"Come on man, give us a break," replied Gibbons. "One night. You think in a matter of 10 minutes, I’d come in here, (and say) screw this? No. That’s not fair to anybody."
Are adjustments needed with Castro’s approach?
"I’m not going to change anything," said catcher Russell Martin. "We’re going to go out there and attack hitters, and we’re going to get them out and sometimes they’re going to get hits. It’s a situation where he came in with a couple men on base, attacked the hitter, good hitter got a good hit. Any other questions?"
RALLY TIME: The Blue Jays were four outs away from victory when Roberto Osuna, after a pair of strikeouts, surrendered a bloop Evan Longoria single to right field that Michael Saunders initially broke back on. Brett Cecil came on to face David DeJesus, a career .251 hitter versus lefties, and he squeezed a ball by second baseman Devon Travis up the middle, prompting John Gibbons to bring in Miguel Castro.
"That’s called good hitting – David DeJesus is a tough out … he put it in play," said Gibbons. "That’s where you hope to get a strikeout because contact is your enemy. I tip my hat to Dave, he found a hole."
Castro then couldn’t clean up their mess.
"Really, I’m not seeing much of a difference," Russell Martin said of Castro. "Guys are ready to hit, spring training is over so the time is now. I really don’t have answer for that. Maybe his pitches are getting a little bit more plate than he wants, maybe we have to start using the off-speed a little more, but I still believe he has great stuff and he definitely should keep his chin up and be ready for next time.
"It’s the big-leagues, guys can hit and it’s going to happen every once in a while. It’s how you come back, you’ve got to come back stronger."
GOOD NIGHT FOR NORRIS: Daniel Norris became just the third Blue Jays starter to go seven innings this season – allowing one run on five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts, handing a 2-1 lead over to the bullpen.
It was a strong bounceback outing on the 22-year-old’s birthday after he surrendered five runs, four earned, on six hits and two walks last weekend against Atlanta. More concerning than the result was the way his stuff looked, something that made him anxious for this outing.
"It’s something to build on," said Norris. "I didn’t doubt myself coming into this start, it was the unknown. I had a good throwing program this week leading up to today, so I was encouraged by that, but still, you wake up anxious, hoping you feel good, especially coming off the last start. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel. It’s definitely encouraging just to see the progress of getting out of that tired arm phase."
Key for him was the third inning on, when his delivery stabilized and he was more in control, after falling over to the third base side often during the first two frames, a sign he’s overthrowing.
"I think I was trying to see how my arm was going to feel, and I was trying to overcompensate with my body," said Norris. "Coming out for the third, I forced myself to stay back and almost force my arm to speed up back to normal. Sure enough it did, so that was big for me."
HOUSE OF HORRORS: Before this trip, the Blue Jays swept their previous visit to Tampa Bay last Sept. 2-4, but Tropicana Field is right back to being their house of horrors. Their series record is now 1-20-2 in their last 23 visits to the Trop dating back to 2007.
"What are you going to do? It’s on the schedule, you’ve got to play here, right? Play better," said manager John Gibbons. "They pitch. They’ve got a great approach, and they execute their pitches, that shuts down our offence pretty good. We never seem to hit a lot here, either. Move on."
Mark Buehrle starts against Chris Archer on Sunday trying to avoid a sweep.
MARTIN MASH: Russell Martin’s third homer of the season, a solo shot over the wall in right-centre to open the seventh, broke a 1-1 tie.
The Blue Jays catcher now has hits in three straight games.
"Honestly, I feel like I’ve been making decent contact all year," said Martin. "There was a stretch where I couldn’t find a hit it felt like, but I’m seeing the ball good, I’m competing out there, I’m just going to keep having the same approach of battling, grinding it out, trying to be a tough out out there, if I get a good pitch to hit, I’m going to try to put a good swing on it."
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the first on a Devon Travis double and Josh Donaldson single, but the Rays tied it in the bottom of the first on an Evan Longoria bloop double just inside the right-field line.
SAUNDERS RETURNS: Michael Saunders made his long-awaited Blue Jays debut, walking in his first at-bat and finishing 0-for-2. He said before the game that the nine rehab contests he played with single-A Dunedin helped get his legs under him, and that he wouldn’t need to do much out of the ordinary for his surgically repaired left knee.
"Just stay on top of it, strengthening exercises, stability exercises, and more importantly recovery after the game," Saunders explained, "but my knee feels great."
PILLAR/POMPEY SWAP SPOTS: The Blue Jays realigned their outfield with Michael Saunders back, shifting Kevin Pillar to centre and moving Dalton Pompey to left.
Why?
"The big thing is Pillar has just been so good," said GM Alex Anthopoulos. "(Mark) Buehrle joked that we should give him the Gold Glove right now and Pillar has always been a good defender but watching him night in and night out, if you have someone that gifted defensively, centre is the ideal spot for him. It’s a way as much to maximize Pillar’s defensive value more than anything else. We knew he was good defensively but he’s playing unbelievably right now. For me from what we’ve seen, he’s one of the best defensive outfielders in the game right now."
MOURNING FANNING: Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Fanning, the first ever general manager of the Montreal Expos and most recently the Blue Jays’ ambassador for amateur baseball, has died. He was 87.
"He was a longtime friend and not enough can be said of his contributions to the game of baseball, particularly in Canada," Blue Jays president Paul Beeston said in a release. "Jim impacted many lives and he will be remembered fondly by many inside and outside the game of baseball."
UPDATES FROM AA: Minor-league free agent Felix Doubront is making progress at extended spring training and will soon be at triple-A Buffalo, GM Alex Anthopoulos said in one of a handful of updates he provided before the game. "Just saw Felix Doubront the other day, he was 90-92 (mph) and he threw two innings," he said. "He’ll progress and hopefully get into the Bison’s rotation soon. I’m going to think maybe two or three more outings to get built up and stretched out. Could be sooner than that but we’ll get him up there soon."
Johan Santana is expected to remain with the Blue Jays through his April 28 opt out date but progress for the veteran left-hander remains, "very, very slow," said Anthopoulos.
There’s no timetable on a return for Maicer Izturis, out since spring training with a groin injury. "He’s rehabbing right now, groin’s getting better," said Anthopoulos. "A bit of soreness in his knee so he’s taking it a little bit slower there. He’s not in games yet. He’s progressing but not anywhere close to games."