TORONTO – Mark Buehrle’s been around the major league block once or twice, so when it comes to finding a factor to credit his successes with or blame his failures on, he always seems arrives in the same place.
“Luck,” Buehrle said with a laugh, standing in a busy Blue Jays clubhouse after a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Twins. “I’ll take it every time, but I know it’s not always gonna happen like that.”
Whether it was simply fortune on his side or a slumping Minnesota Twins lineup — the Twins have lost nine of their last ten — struggling to find a spark, Buehrle was fantastic Friday night, scattering six hits and five strikeouts over seven innings of shutout ball.
His manager, John Gibbons, thought it was one of Buehrle’s best starts of the year.
“He was outstanding tonight. He had everything working to both sides of the plate,” Gibbons said. “What was it, a two and a half hour game? Everybody loves that.”
It actually took just two hours and 26 minutes for the Blue Jays to beat up on the lowly Twins, powered by three-hit nights from Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista.
Part of that is a credit to how quickly Buerhle works — he’s the second-fastest pitcher in the majors, averaging just 18.4 seconds between pitches going into Friday’s game.
Another part is how often Buehrle got ahead of batters against the Twins; he threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of the 27 batters he faced over seven innings Friday night.
“I could throw my pitches when I needed to instead of being behind in the count and having to throw fastballs,” Buehrle said. “When my changeups down in the zone and working, it’s going to be a good day.”
Buehrle leaned on his changeup whenever he found himself in a bind, especially in the first inning when he put runners on second and third with just one out. The 34-year-old finesse pitcher fooled Justin Morneau with an 80-mph changeup for a called third strike and then watched Trevor Plouffe swing through another off-speed pitch to escape the jam.
Of course, if you ask Buehrle about it, he’ll shrug his shoulders and tell you a lot of it is simply out of his control. And whenever he’s pitching, luck is never far away — whether it’s on his side or against him.
“There were a few balls that I threw and I was like god dangit, but then next thing you know it’s an out,” Buehrle said. “So there was luck involved with it.”
WHERE THINGS STAND
With the win, the Blue Jays (42-44) snapped a three-game losing streak and earned their first shutout since June 26 in Tampa Bay. Of course, its never a bad time to play the Twins (36-47) who haven’t provided much opposition for anyone recently. Minnesota ran its own losing streak to six games.
The Blue Jays have eight games left to play before the All-Star break: two more against the Twins before three-game sets in Cleveland and Baltimore.
“These nine games are very, very important to us,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said before Friday night’s game. “We’ve played some pretty good teams and we’ve been struggling a bit lately — so we definitely need to kick it in.”
The Blue Jays are hosting the slumping Twins at an extremely fortunate time, as Toronto had gone 3-8 since June’s much-celebrated 11-game winning streak came to an end. Things won’t get any easier once Minnesota leaves town, however, as Cleveland and Baltimore are both over .500 and came into Friday night winners of six of their last ten.
THE BATS
The Blue Jays got all the offence they would need in the third inning when Jose Bautista put Toronto ahead with his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot hit on a line to deep left-centre field off of Twins starter Kevin Correia. He became the seventh Blue Jay in the history of the franchise to notch four 20+ home run seasons.
After slumping for the majority of June, Bautista has caught fire in July. Over his last seven games, Bautista is 13-for-25 with four homers, two doubles and five walks.
Some have attributed Bautista’s good fortune to fashion; the right fielder has been hiking his socks up over his pants during his recent run, ala R.A. Dickey. Other, more logical minded individuals, have noted Bautista’s improved swing timing as a more relevant factor to his success.
Bautista uses a violent swing with several moving parts. If one action at the plate is slightly off time, it can sabotage the entire operation.
“There’s a lot to his swing,” Gibbons said. “With those leg kick guys, the timing’s huge.”
The Blue Jays went on to rock Correia in the fourth inning, scoring three runs on three hits and two walks to vault ahead, 4-0. Jose Reyes had the big hit in the inning, ripping a double down the right field line to score two. It was his first double since returning from the disabled list a week and a half ago, and extended his hitting streak to eight games.
REYES FEELING BETTER EVERY DAY
Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes smacked the aforementioned double as one of his three hits Friday night, and stole his first base since returning from an ankle injury that caused him to miss 66 games.
It was a big step for Reyes who had been battling some lingering soreness in his ankle and trying to ease his way back to full speed. Reyes says his ankle bothers him the most when he’s rounding a base while gunning for a double or trying to score from second.
Speed is an integral facet to Reyes’ game. He’s stolen more than 30 bases in a season seven times, and led the league in steals three consecutive years when he was with the Mets.
He has just six so far this year, thanks to missing so much time. But after Friday night’s game Reyes vowed he would be turning on the jets more often as he inches closer and closer to feeling like himself again.
“I almost broke my ankle, you know? So for a couple weeks I’m going to be a little concerned about it,” Reyes said. “But the more I play the more comfortable I’m going to feel.”
Despite the continued discomfort, Reyes doesn’t foresee himself sitting out any games in the future as he eases his way back to full health. He’s had just about enough of that.
“I already took two months off,” Reyes said with a laugh. “So I don’t think I’m going to take any more days off.”
REDMOND TO START
When Chien-Ming Wang was outrighted to triple-A Buffalo after two disastrous starts, the Blue Jays were left with a hole in the rotation for this Sunday’s series finale against the Twins.
On Friday, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons confirmed the opportunity will go to 28-year-old right-hander Todd Redmond, owner of a 3.61 career ERA across nine minor league seasons.
“Here’s his opportunity,” Gibbons said. “He’ll throw strikes, he’s go that little off-speed pitch he throws at any time. He competes.”
Redmond has made just one start at the major league level, an August 2012 outing for the Cinncinati Reds that lasted only 3.1 innings. Redmond allowed four earned runs on seven hits and five walks, striking out two.
His most recent outing lasted nearly as long, as Redmond held the Detroit Tigers scoreless through three innings of relief on Wednesday, allowing just two base runners.
The Blue Jays will also need a starter for next Saturday afternoon in Baltimore, the second-last game before the All-Star break. If Redmond impresses during his outing on Sunday, he’ll likely get the start.
But if Redmond flounders, it’s unclear where the Blue Jays will turn for a reliable outing.