John Schneider wasn't wasting any time in calling upon his bullpen on Tuesday night.
After the Toronto Blue Jays broke out to a 6-1 lead in the third inning of Game 3's loss to the New York Yankees in the ALDS, starter Shane Bieber ran into some trouble in his second time through the lineup.
Facing the top of the Yankees' order, Bieber allowed back-to-back doubles from Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge, a single from Cody Bellinger and a sacrifice fly to Giancarlo Stanton. While he did induce a fielder's choice groundout from Ben Rice, the Blue Jays' top trade deadline acquisition walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. to bring the tying run to the plate with two out.
That's when Schneider took the ball from the former Cy Young winner in favour of left-hander Mason Fluharty with Ryan McMahon coming to the plate.
While the Yankees pinch-hit the right-handed swinging Amed Rosario, Fluharty stepped up for Toronto in a big spot yet again. The rookie southpaw needed just four pitches to get Rosario to pop up in foul territory to catcher Alejandro Kirk.
Ultimately, with a bullpen game on tap for Wednesday's Game 4, Schneider opted to be aggressive in deploying his relief corps with the Blue Jays up 6-3 and one win away from the ALCS.
Despite Fluharty escaping the jam, the move didn't play well with Blue Jays legend Vernon Wells. Toronto's longtime centre-fielder weighed in on X, posting that "You don’t take Shane out with 53 pitches with Game 4 being a bullpen game."
Bieber's final line read 2.2 innings of work, five hits, three runs (two earned), one walk and two strikeouts.
Beyond Fluharty, Toronto's bullpen was unable to keep the lead, as Louis Varland allowed a game-tying three-run shot to Aaron Judge. The Yankees took the lead on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. solo shot off Varland the next inning, before adding insurance runs against Braydon Fisher and Brendon Little.
The game turned into a relief battle early, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone also called upon his bullpen, removing southpaw Carlos Rodón in the third inning, as well. The difference over the final six innings of the game, however, was that New York's five relievers stopped the bleeding, allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out nine in the win.
