TORONTO – What started as fatigue and was followed first by a planned day off and then an unplanned day off led to an MRI that revealed what the Toronto Blue Jays, upon an initial reading of the results, called a re-aggravation of George Springer’s right quad injury.
Convoluted stuff, and it’s quite the chain of events for the star outfielder, who was put back on the injured list about an hour before the Toronto Blue Jays took the field for Wednesday night’s 9-4 comeback win over the Oakland Athletics.
That he’ll be sidelined at least another week – although surely more given the strain’s recurrence – is without doubt disappointing, but Springer is a gamer, quad issues can be complicated and injuries happen. Remember too that healing and maintaining the human body can’t be made foolproof, no matter how robust a high-performance department a team runs.
What makes Springer’s return to the IL hard to stomach is the opaque manner in which his status was communicated since he came out of Sunday’s 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. He went from no-big-deal fatigue, to fine and improving, to not injured as badly as before, to having a similar injury to the one before.
Now, there needs to be latitude given for stories to develop as information changes. But this was like catching a trailer for what seems like a rom-com and discovering in the theatre that it’s actually a slasher flick.
How gory this ends up being for the Blue Jays depends on how longer Springer is sidelined.
Manager Charlie Montoyo said the imaging this time isn’t any worse than when he initially blew out the quad back in Texas during the first week of the season. Springer was simply running the bases then, prep work when he was on the verge of returning from an oblique strain, and “he never really limped off the field,” recalled Montoyo. “He just stopped running and he just went inside because he felt the quad. That's how it happened.”
Some three weeks later, Springer recovered and made his Blue Jays debut, getting four games in before he hit the shelf once again.
“One of the reasons we waited so long is because of who he is,” explained Montoyo. “If we could wait, wait, wait to see if he can come back, that would have been the best thing. But then the more we looked at it and after the MRI we said, 'OK, he's still got something in there.' There's no sense in waiting. Just put him on the IL and take the eight days or 10 days, whatever that's going to be, and see how it feels after that. That's what made our decision easier.”
The Blue Jays have certainly missed Springer this week in Oakland, where they managed only five runs in a pair of losses to open the four-game series, and then took more hits as they rallied in an opportunistic, five-run eighth against the American League West leaders.
Utilityman Joe Panik left the game in the top of the eighth with some left calf tightness while David Phelps felt some discomfort in his right shoulder after throwing his first warmup pitch in preparation for the bottom half of the frame. Both will go for testing Thursday, said Montoyo.
In the midst of all that, Reese McGuire, added to the roster just before the game, opened the eighth with a walk against Lou Trivino. Pinch-runner Jonathan Davis, activated in place of Springer, advanced to second on a Marcus Semien base hit and after a Bo Bichette fielder’s choice, scored on a wild pitch to tie the game 3-3.
After Vladimir Guerrero Jr., was walked intentionally and Bichette stole third, Teoscar Hernandez ripped a go-ahead RBI single, Randal Grichuk’s base hit extended the lead, Cavan Biggio laid down a clever bunt to squeeze in another before Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s run-scoring groundout made it 7-3.
"That's a lot of good execution by everybody," said Montoyo. "First of all, what Teo did when they walked Vladdy, we need Teo to be that guy to force teams to face Vladdy. That was that was huge. Biggio executing the safety squeeze against a tough lefty, that was huge, great job. Bo stealing the base, that was an outstanding play. …
“These kind of games, you need people to execute and we did.”
Guerrero added a two-run double in the ninth on a 114 m.p.h. rocket that froze Mark Canha standing in left field some 320 feet away.
The outbursts ensured the Blue Jays didn’t waste the six strong innings Robbie Ray gave them.
The lefty continues to shove his fastball down the throats of opponents, averaging 95.4 m.p.h. on a pitch that generated 11 whiffs on 31 swings. His slider generated another six misses while another came off his curveball, leading to nine strikeouts, and, pivotally, he didn’t walk a batter for the third straight start.
An all-star in 2017, Ray said he sees “some glimpses” of his past form, although he added that his “slider could be better.” While Ramon Laureano ambushed a cookie first-pitch heater for a solo shot in the first, Matt Chapman rocked a bad-idea slider in the fourth that tied the game 2-2. Sean Murphy’s bloop single in the sixth put the Athletics up 3-2.
Still, the Blue Jays will gladly take outings like this one all year long while Ray is building confidence as he locks in on a productive delivery that eluded him last year.
“I definitely feel, mentally, more free,” Ray said. “I feel like even if I get behind a guy 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, I've still got a chance because I feel like my stuff is that good right now. So it definitely is freeing mentally.”
Chris Bassitt looked like he might be in for a rough night when Hernandez and Grichuk capped a run of four straight hits with RBI singles, but he locked the Blue Jays down for the next six innings, allowing only two more hits.
The Blue Jays have now used the injured list 16 times for 15 different players and more may be coming depending on how Phelps and Panik feel Thursday. A roster will be needed to activate ace Hyun-Jin Ryu from the IL, but after Davis’ recall, there are no more position players on the taxi squad with the team out on the West Coast, meaning the Blue Jays may have to go with what they have for the series finale.
Par for the course in this season of relentless attrition, when the story around an injury may change but the parade to the injured list stays consistent.
