MINNEAPOLIS – In terms of accomplishments, surpassing the 36 innings he logged during a lost 2017 season is a relatively minor milestone for Aaron Sanchez. For someone who threw 192 regular-season innings in 2016 plus 11.2 more in the post-season and won an American League ERA title, it’s not exactly a moment for the mantle.
Yet as the electric-armed righty grinded through six tough frames in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 7-5 win Monday night over the Minnesota Twins to hit 37.2 innings in 2018, the marker was the latest indication of how he’s leaving last year’s blister-induced misery behind.
Outing by outing, Sanchez is steadily re-stablishing himself as a pillar in a rotation that for the most part underperformed during the club’s 15-10 April.
“That’s the biggest thing for me, just try to not bring (last year) up,” said Sanchez. “I felt like today, and this whole first month, just a little bit of inconsistency in terms of workload with my body, trying to get back into turning five days over, getting my body used to that. I haven’t really done that and you can imitate it in spring training as good as you can, but until you’re out here when things count, things are a little bit different, the body starts to ramp up in different ways. Something I’m still trying to get adjusted to but it will come and I’m still pitching well.”
[snippet id=3918627]
For the Blue Jays (16-12) to extend their success into May and beyond, they’re going to need Sanchez to keep pitching the way he has behind the impressive J.A. Happ, and for Marco Estrada, Marcus Stroman and Jaime Garcia to pick up the pace behind them.
The rotation headed into Monday night’s action with a 5.26 ERA, which ranked a dismal 13th in the American League, far from the foundational strength it was projected to be.
“We’ve been inconsistent but I think that’s going to change,” said manager John Gibbons. “You always go into a season and you expect this or you expect that, but very rarely does it happen that way, anyways. Even a couple of guys who are struggling, they’ve shown some bright spots, and they’re good and they’ve all done it before.
“They’ll get on a roll, no doubt in my mind.”
That Sanchez is already rolling continues to be among the season’s most pivotal developments for the Blue Jays.
The evolution of his change-up has played a big role in that, although Monday he relied on it a bit less than he has in previous outings. He leaned most heavily on his sinker, throwing 37 of them on the night. He followed with 28 four-seamers and 25 change-ups along with three curveballs.
Left-handed batters have seen his fastball well this season, batting .500 versus the two-seamer and .364 versus the four-seamer heading into Monday, according to data on Brooks Baseball, and the Twins lineup against him featured four left-handed batters and three switch-hitters.
They didn’t make it easy on him.
“It was just a little frustrating for me tonight,” said Sanchez. “Just ball/strike, ball/strike, being inconsistent. Everything just fell off the plate, I was never really in my lanes, per se. A lot of work to be done this week and hopefully back at it Saturday.”
Sanchez kept them at bay the first time through the order but once the Blue Jays built up a 5-0 lead, highlighted by Justin Smoak’s two-run shot off Lance Lynn, the Twins started to scratch away.
Logan Morrison cashed Max Kepler’s leadoff triple with a groundout in the bottom of the fourth, Eduardo Escobar rocked a two-seamer over the wall in centre with two out in the fifth to make it 6-3, and Mitch Garver’s groundout plated a Robbie Grossman double in the sixth to make it a two-run game.
“I feel like I’ve given up a lot of dumb runs this year where I walk a guy, two outs, homer – that’s dumb in my eyes,” said Sanchez. “Hats off to these guys over here, a lot of good players and a lot of good players around the league. That’s not a knock to anyone else, but that’s where for me it comes in with being more focused in situations like that, killing the inning, ending it there and not having to tinker with more batters and throw more pitches.
“Once those reps come I think the rest will follow.”
[snippet id=3966765]
Kepler’s RBI double off Danny Barnes in the seventh set up a nervous finish for the Blue Jays, but Tyler Clippard struck out the side in the eighth and the Twins played the role of gracious hosts in the ninth when Eddie Rosario dropped a Smoak fly ball on the warning track and Yangervis Solarte cashed him in with a base hit.
Roberto Osuna stranded the tying runs at second and third in the ninth to secure Sanchez’s second win of the season with his seventh save.
“We built a nice lead, and I’ve been a part of many of them, then the other team keeps creeping back,” said Gibbons. “(Sanchez) was off, his command was erratic but he hung in there enough. We’ve got to tighten up some defence on some balls but it’s nice to get a win. You’re going to play many games like that, it never feels good, they had the tying run on second, but we had our closer on. Bottom line we won that thing.”
There’s validation in that, especially with a second straight win after seven losses in nine outings. And while Sanchez wasn’t as dominant as in his last start, when he held the Red Sox to two runs over six frames with eight strikeouts, he kept the game in line.
“He’s so under control,” pitching coach Pete Walker said of what he’s liked about how Sanchez has pitched. “His delivery, he’s not trying to overthrow as much as he has in the past, when he really tried to step on it at times and had to rely on the fastball. Now he’s got other pitches he utilizes, especially the change-up. He’s controlling bat speed for the first time in his career with that change-up. And I still think we haven’t seen his best spin.
“There’s still a breaking ball in there I think can be really effective for him.”
As Sanchez continues to leave 2017 further and further behind him, and with the Blue Jays not expecting him to have any sort of workload restrictions this year, he’ll have plenty of time to work on it.
[relatedlinks]
