TORONTO — Bullpen games as a matter of course are usually a last resort rather than a choice, one the Toronto Blue Jays have been forced into with eight starting pitchers, a full rotation and three-fifths, currently on the injured list. By and large they’ve done well with them, too, covering over various gaps as starter after starter has gone down this season.
But the perils of running them as often as they have this season are being exposed in this suddenly costly series against the Detroit Tigers, when the reliever usage in Monday’s 6-5 loss was influenced by the need to preserve arms for Tuesday’s bullpen game, which unravelled into a 10-1 thumping.
A messy evening that pressed Spencer Arrighetti – available only after a late afternoon shift of the weekend’s pitching plans in Texas – into two innings of work was further exacerbated when the Cleveland Guardians rallied with two outs in the ninth to beat the Chicago White Sox 7-6, moving them two games clear of the Blue Jays for the American League’s final wild card.
Add in that Trey Yesavage didn’t make it out of the first inning during his rehab outing at triple-A Buffalo – sitting 93.3 m.p.h. with his fastball while throwing 34 pitches and allowing two runs, one earned – while Anthony Santander sat out with lower-back discomfort, and all of the night’s key developments didn’t break their way.
Max Scherzer starts Wednesday’s series finale versus Keider Montero as the Blue Jays (75-77) look to avoid a sweep against the Tigers (72-79) and keep their playoff odds – down to 23.6 per cent, according to Fangraphs – from slipping further.
"We’re in the same spot we were a week or two ago, so we’re still in it and we have all the confidence in the world in this group," said Ernie Clement, who walked in four plate appearances. "We’re just going to keep showing up and getting after it."
Tuesday started with more promise as Braydon Fisher, opening for the 10th time, worked around two walks in a scoreless first and recorded an out in the second before lefty Brendan Cellucci — the 15th Blue Jays player to debut in the majors this season — delivered a solid 1.2 shutout frames.
But manager John Schneider noted before the game that "the most important thing on days like today is scoring" since the bullpen can’t be expected to simply "throw up zeroes," adding that "you have to score and hopefully give yourself some wiggle room."
They didn’t do that against starter Drew Anderson, leaving the bases loaded in the third just before Michael Lorenzen took over and with two outs in the fourth, issued walks to Riley Greene and Eduardo Valencia before a Max Clark RBI double and a three-run Spencer Torkelson home run. Greene’s RBI single in the fifth tacked on another run, John Peck’s RBI single in the sixth off Brendon Little made it 6-0 and an errant pickoff throw to third by Alejandro Kirk plated two more in the eighth, as Arrighetti needed 52 pitches to cover his two frames. Detroit tacked on two more off Joe Mantiply in the ninth.
"The turning point, a two-out walk 0-2 to Greene and then they score four and it kind of unravelled from there just with a couple mistakes," said Schneider. "And we didn't score. That's what it boils down to."
Arrighetti worked on two days’ rest, having thrown 50 pitches in Saturday’s 7-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles during the Blue Jays’ last bullpen day, after he had initially been slated to be the featured arm for Friday’s series opener against the Rangers.
But in the late afternoon, after Schneider had revealed the tentative plan, which would have kept Dylan Cease and Jose Soriano on turn, rather than using Thursday’s off-day to push them up, shifted, with Cease now starting Friday and Soriano on Saturday.
That gives the Blue Jays the option of using Arrighetti on Sunday or moving up Yesavage, who had been targeted to pitch in Monday’s series opener at Baltimore.
The new alignment also allows Cease and Soriano to be lined up for the opener of a potential wild-card series Sept. 29, should the Blue Jays get there. Here’s one possibility for how they can roll out over the final 10 games:
Reaching the post-season is, of course, the first priority, and "you work through it with the player and see what's best for what's best for him and keeping the most important thing getting in and then going from there," said Schneider. "In a three-game series, you can do some things that are a little bit weird and you can do some things (that are) pretty unique with the bullpen, too, and we've had some pretty good success with it. So trying to just do what's best for everyone involved, but to try to get in first."
In that way, the Blue Jays’ remaining schedule is like a chess board and they’re playing down a queen and a rook, trying to win with their bishops and knights. It’s not ideal, but all they can do is play the pieces they have.
Taillon waits
In the aftermath of the elbow injury that forced Jameson Taillon from the mound after two innings Sept. 4 in Kansas City, the veteran right-hander couldn’t help but wonder if those 29 pitches were his last in the majors. He’s 34, already undergone two Tommy John surgeries and "if it’s a major surgery I needed, I don't know if I could commit to that at this point."
"Right after it happened there's definitely some of that (worry about the end of his career) and now here we are like 10 days out or whatever and I'm feeling a lot better and I feel like I'm in a better spot than I was after it happened," he said. "I'm pretty committed to creating a plan of attack and giving it another good go."
A key step in that process will come next Tuesday, when he visits with specialist Dr. Keith Meister. At this point, Taillon understands that "my season is over" and that whatever happened in his elbow "is not necessarily the greatest, otherwise I'd be throwing."
"But we're just trying to figure out what's causing what," he continued. "Is it a flexor? Is it my UCL that I've had surgery on? Is it just chronically changed? Or is there some laxity in my elbow or whatever? I might have a little bit of laxity in my ligament space, so it's like, OK, well, is that because of my flexor or because of the ligament. That's why Meister is the best guy to see."
In the interim he’s hanging out with the Blue Jays, working out to stay in shape "more for my mental health," and cheerleading his teammates. He was excited about the changes the coaching staff had presented him when he arrived at the trade deadline and felt they were going to set him up well moving forward. Once he gets answers on his elbow, the pending free agent is hoping to resume that work.
"I always do well with plans and once I know exactly what's going on and have a plan, I'll be in a pretty good spot," he said. "Just hopeful it's not anything super major and maybe an injection or two and a good off-season of rehab and I'll be in a good spot to build up."
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