SEATTLE — The Toronto Blue Jays have decided to stay the course with their starting rotation for now, meaning Brad Mills will make his next scheduled start Sunday in Oakland.
Blue Jays manager John Farrell seemed to leave the door open to a possible change after Mills squandered a 6-0 lead over three innings in Tuesday’s 13-7 victory over the Mariners, his second straight poor outing.
But after talking things over Wednesday, they decided against switching things up.
“It’s not just with Brad, there’s always internal discussion that goes on surrounding every game that we play,” said Farrell. “That hasn’t led us to do anything that would make a change for Sunday.”
The 26-year-old’s ERA has bloated to 8.35 in four big-league starts after allowing 12 earned runs in six innings during his past two outings.
A command and control pitcher who generally sits in the 85-87 m.p.h. range, Mills’ margin for error is much smaller because of his lack of velocity.
“That doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective major-league pitcher,” said Farrell. “It just means that he’s got to be more consistent with his location, with pitching ahead in the count and then he can expand the strike zone from there with his changeup and his curveball.”
Against the Mariners on Tuesday night, he allowed six runs on six hits and three walks. He also gave up two home runs.
“He didn’t start using his curveball until he was in a bit of a jam,” said Farrell. “He came out and threw a very good first inning and then after that things started to build on him a little bit and he didn’t use his curveball to spread the strike zone up and down and everything stayed on the same plane.”
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MORE FOR McGOWAN: Dustin McGowan will move up to five innings of work for his next rehab start and it sounds like his continued progress will earn him a callup in September.
The right-hander needed only 57 pitches to cruise through four shutout innings in double-A New Hampshire’s 2-1 loss to Altoona, touching 97 m.p.h on the radar gun.
There is just enough of the minor-league schedule left for him to make three more starts, and Farrell indicated that once he’s through those, his return from two shoulder surgeries will be completed with a stint in Toronto.
“We haven’t determined the role yet but we’re certainly wanting to continue his season after the minor-league season shuts down and that means September here,” he said.
“Without stamping that as yes, he’s a guaranteed September callup, we have every reason to want to see him back at the major-league level and see him against major-league hitters.”
McGowan hasn’t pitched in the big-leagues since blowing out his shoulder during a game in 2008. He’ll be eligible for free agency after the 2012 season.
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NOTES: Aside from Dustin McGowan, other leading candidates for a September callup include outfielders Travis Snider and Adam Loewen and right-hander Kyle Drabek. But Farrell is leery of adding too many players. “That’s part of what our discussion is around because there are a number of guys we for sure want to see back here, it’s just a matter of what innings, what at-bats can be distributed to make a callup in September meaningful,” he said. “You also want to take into account the work they’ve done and the year they’ve had in triple-A or double-A and factor that in. There is a certain reward that goes into a very strong year at the minor-league level and the further exposure at the big-league level.” … Left-hander Brian Tallet (intercostal strain) is scheduled to pitch in his first rehab game Thursday in Dunedin. … Righty Carlos Villanueva (shoulder) is still throwing on flat ground and has yet to get up on a mound since going on the DL.
