TORONTO – A decision on who to drop from the starting rotation is coming quick for the Toronto Blue Jays and Ross Stripling isn’t making the call any easier for them.
Six shutout innings of three-hit ball in Thursday’s 3-0 victory over Cleveland by the right-hander offered a strong counter to the six shutout frames delivered by lefty Steven Matz a night earlier. The two are slated to pitch in next Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim before the Blue Jays shift back to a five-man rotation.
Someone very capable of contributing as a starter is going to the bullpen.
“That’s been my career up to date, for six years, I’ve kind of had that thought in the back of my mind at all times,” Stripling said.
“I’ve never really showed up to spring training with a for-sure spot in the rotation. I’m always kind of battling for that spot, battling for that job, so it’s kind of more of the same for me. Obviously, it’s right in your face right now knowing that we’re rocking a six-man rotation. What’s cool is we’re just kind of passing the baton one after another. I started the first one here and I feel like we’ve really kind of put together as a group one after another good one. Happy to keep it going on my end, that’s kind of what I’m thinking about right now.”
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The logjam is a by-product of the new depth created by the acquisition of Jose Berrios last week, a front-of-the-rotation addition that gives the Blue Jays a front three with Hyun Jin Ryu and Robbie Ray capable of matching up with any of the teams they’re chasing for the post-season.
During this current stretch, they needed to roll with six starters to get them through doubleheaders Saturday against the Boston Red Sox and against the Angels next week, but once through those dates, their plan is to shift someone back into the vacant long-man role.
On the deep Los Angeles Dodgers teams he came from, Stripling was regularly bouncing in and out of the rotation. He’s started in 79 of his 167 big-league games, while Matz has only come out of the bullpen five times in 131 outings.
“It’s a really good problem to have,” said Stripling. “Those teams in L.A. always had the depth. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had to DFA guys like Jonathan Davis and T.J. Zeuch, really good players that probably belong on big-league rosters. That’s a testament to our depth and the team that our front office put together. … I’ve been very lucky. I’ve made the playoffs every year of my career and I fully expect to do that again this year and if that means pitching out of the bullpen, if that means starting, whatever it takes to help the team win, that’s what I’m accustomed to doing and I’m happy to do it here. That’s what I’m looking forward to down the last two months of the season.”
Stripling — having made what he called “a Pete Walker special,” an adjustment to keep his leg over the rubber longer so his body wouldn’t slope forward too quickly — was his usual crafty self. He had little trouble to navigate once he stranded a pair in the first, when leadoff man Bradley Zimmer reached on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. error and Franmil Reyes reached on a one-out walk.
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Bobby Bradley promptly flew out, Harold Ramirez hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice and Cleveland didn’t manage another baserunner until Owen Miller’s one-out single in the fifth.
One-out singles by Amed Rosario and Reyes in the sixth – with the Blue Jays holding on to a 2-0 lead provided by Bo Bichette’s two-run shot in fourth – were quickly neutralized by Stripling, who struck out Bradley and got Ramirez on another fielder’s choice.
Bichette did all the heavy lifting for the Blue Jays’ offence, cashing in Guerrero’s single in the fourth with his 20th homer, a 105.6 m.p.h. rocket to the second deck in left field. Then in the sixth, he followed Marcus Semien’s double by lining a base hit up the middle to pad the margin.
He was really the only one to really get a handle on Triston McKenzie, a friend from Florida he’s played against for years who in the midst of a Jekyll and Hyde season allowed only five hits over seven innings.
“He’s a competitor, man, that’s what I’ve always appreciated about him, still do,” said Bichette. “He’s going to attack you and if he gets beat, he gets beat.”
Having used Jordan Romano to seal the deal in Wednesday’s 8-6 win, manager Charlie Montoyo turned to Adam Cimber to follow Trevor Richards and Tim Mayza in the ninth inning.
Increasingly among the club’s steadiest relief arms, he locked down the club’s sixth win in seven games since returning to Toronto with a clean ninth before a raucous crowd of 14,289.
“We were thinking Mazya for the top of the lineup, and then and then we’ll see how it goes,” Montoyo said of navigating the final innings. “If it was still a save situation, we were going to bring Cimber in and he’s another guy that deserves a lot of credit because he’s been really good.”
So, too, has been Stripling, whose rebound from some May struggles helped fortify the Blue Jays’ rotation at a time when it was shaky. Since May 24, he has a 3.39 ERA in 66.1 innings over 13 outings and started the Blue Jays on their current surge with 5.1 innings of two-run ball in the 6-4 homecoming win over the Kansas City Royals on July 30.
The Blue Jays have allowed 18 runs in their seven games back at Rogers Centre thus far, finding some peace of mind being out of the bandboxes they called home in Dunedin and Buffalo. Stripling said “100 per cent, no doubt,” the conditions there altered his approach on the mound.
“I can only speak for myself and the meetings that I had with the catcher and Pete Walker before the game,” he continued. “We 100 per cent knew the weather on that day and pitched to the conditions a couple of times in Dunedin, especially, and even in Buffalo. I remember facing the Orioles, to righties, where away isn’t necessarily safe, in is a better place to go – we wouldn’t go in. We would stay away, even knowing that the scouting report kind of dictated otherwise. I specifically remember a pitch to (Ryan) Mountcastle. All at-bat I’m working away, away, away to him. And I throw a ball in, off and he pulls it at like 90 degrees off the bat and it goes for a homer. And I’m just like, ‘Dang, I knew not to do that and I did it and he punished me for it.’ So you 100 per cent knew the ballpark and the conditions. As a guy that listens to the scouting report and can throw any pitch, any time, I chose to treat that as a factor of how I was going to tackle it.”
Since coming back to Toronto, “I haven’t thought about it at all,” he said, “not one bit.”
Whether that keeps him in the rotation or not is another matter, but as always, he’s willing to put team before self no matter how things play out next week.
“I’ve always believed that if you’re throwing the ball well, they’re going to get you innings. That’s all I want at the end of the day,” said Stripling. “Obviously, I want to be a starter, feel like my arsenal fits as a starter, but this is crunch time. It’s about winning ballgames now. If they think that Matz or whoever gives you a chance to win every fifth day more than me, then I’ll deal with that and take the ball whenever they give it to me. That’s what I’ve done my whole career.”
SCARY MOMENT: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., took a 95.1 m.p.h. cutter from Bryan Shaw off the left wrist in the eighth inning and fortunately for the slugger, it caught him on his hand guard. “Any time you get hit in that area, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a pad, it’s dangerous,” said Montoyo. “But he’s fine.”
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