TORONTO — Despite starving for slug, the Toronto Blue Jays pushed back Addison Barger’s expected return from the injured list from Friday to Saturday. With lefty Reid Detmers starting for the Los Angeles Angels, to be followed by righties Jack Kochanowicz and Jose Soriano in this weekend series, the delay was perhaps understandable. But there was a little more to it, as well.
“He played a few games in a row, just give him a day to kind of recoup and travel, and then assuming that he travels fine, he should be ready to go (Saturday),” explained manager John Schneider. “The extra day was kind of all right, when he gets here, I'm not going to run him out there every single day, but we can get him going pretty good.”
Whatever the case, his arrival will be welcomed, even after a 2-0 victory before a crowd of 41,923 ended the Blue Jays' four-game losing streak on Friday.
Dylan Cease put the game under his thumb by retiring the first nine batters he faced and struck the right balance between whiff-inducing dominance and efficient outs over seven shutout innings, while the offence eked out just enough while going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The entirety of their output came in the third inning, on an RBI single by Kazuma Okamoto and sacrifice fly by Ernie Clement. But the ongoing absence of the big blow was underlined by only one of the six walks they worked off Detmers coming around, the offence fulfilling only half of the pre-game plan to grind the starter and get to damage.
“I liked the way we approached him, for sure, and today you just kind of miss the big hit, whoever it was,” said Schneider. “Bases loaded, you get a sac fly from Ern, if that's a hit, it kind of breaks the game open a little bit, it gives you a little separation. But, just put ourselves in chances to score and then again, you've got to come up with the big hit. But I liked the way that we controlled the zone.”
That meant a high-leverage finish for the bullpen, with Jeff Hoffman topping out at 99.5 m.p.h. while working around a Vaughn Grissom double in an impressive eighth and Louis Varland handling the ninth for his fifth save.
The Blue Jays are now 17-21 after winning with less than three runs for the first time this season. They scored only seven times during their four-game losing streak.
Barger’s return should help that offence, adding another threat to a middle of the order that needs one. The Blue Jays began the day 23rd in both home runs and slug and none of their three hits went for extra bases, although pinch-hitter Jesus Sanchez drove a ball foul in the eighth that would have changed that.
Still, the lineup as a whole isn’t performing well enough for piecemeal production to be enough and getting to power, outside of a few brief spurts, has been an issue. Okamoto is the lone exception, responsible for nearly a third of the team’s home-run total of 34, while over his last 19 games, he’s batting .309/.405/.691 with eight homers and 20 RBIs.
“Obviously, it changes based on the situation and the pitcher that's throwing, but every time I'm out there, the least I can do is to move the runner over,” Okamoto, speaking through interpreter Yusuke Oshima, said of his approach with runners in scoring position. “Getting a hit or a home run is ideal, but the least I can do is move the runner over, so that's the approach I take every time.”
The wider lack of offence has been putting immense pressure on the pitching staff, which Cease, Hoffman and Varland handled with aplomb Friday.
Cease, in particular, was a beast, allowing only five hits while striking out 10 on 97 pitches. He mixed in his changeup, curve, sinker and sweeper alongside a usual diet of sliders and four-seamers, keeping the Angels on their back foot.
Last weekend in Minnesota, Cease also went seven innings in an 11-4 win over the Twins, but felt his mix Friday was the best he’s had all season. Combined with “plus stuff and good command,” along with an adjustment to keep his glove closer to his body, “to stay compact,” he found himself “in a good rhythm.”
“As a game goes and you start establishing things and seeing what they're doing and how they're seeing it, sometimes you see opportunities for more spin or more heaters or whatever it might be,” Cease said of how he finds his mix. “So a little bit of it is just feel before the game or feel during it. But a lot of it's what the other team is showing you as well.”
A pretty double play started by Okamoto on a 105.4 m.p.h. smash by Mike Trout in the fourth helped Cease along, the third baseman picking the ball to his right before relaying to Clement at second for an impressive twin-killing.
“Because it's hit so hard, all you have to do is get a clean transfer and get rid of it,” explained Clement. “He's done a great job on balls going to his right all year. I think he makes that play down the line really, really well. He's got a really quick transfer and a strong arm. That's one you don't really have to think about. You just kind of get it and go. He's been great.”
More offence to widen the margins would be great, too, and Barger’s pending arrival means a difficult roster decision will be made Saturday. The Blue Jays want to avoid being “redundant, and you don’t want to be pigeonholed into a guy not playing, if that makes sense,” Schneider said, and it does, framing how they’ll make the call.
Regardless, Barger is going to play, and in the Blue Jays’ ideal world, he gives them the type of lift at the plate he provided a year ago around this time, too.
