TORONTO – Minus the miserable rain and muddied field, the rematch between Jose Berrios and Cole Ragans looked a lot like their last encounter a week ago.
Tough pitching both ways. An early homer on a hanging breaking ball giving the Kansas City Royals an early lead. The Toronto Blue Jays grinding to eke out a run and eat into the deficit.
That first meeting ended as a 2-1 Royals win in a rain-shortened five innings, with the Blue Jays frustrated that the game was called before they had a chance to rally. This time, they were left frustrated for different reasons, unable to fulfil a couple of late rallies before the Royals pushed things out of reach for a 4-1 victory Tuesday.
Berrios was once again tremendous, allowing only a Michael Massey two-run homer in the second over seven otherwise strong and efficient innings. But Ragans one-upped him once again, allowing just a run on Bo Bichette’s two-out RBI single in the sixth while striking out nine in 6.2 innings before leaving with a left calf cramp.
“I left one slider right in the middle and I paid for it,” said Berrios.
Still, the Blue Jays had a chance to pull this one out when they put two men on with two out in both the sixth and seventh. But after Bichette lashed his single to centre, Ragans rallied to strike out Justin Turner on a 99.1 m.p.h. heater to escape that jamp, while the next inning, reliever John Schreiber came on to get Cavan Biggio on a comebacker.
To the chagrin of a crowd of 27,189, the Royals then responded with Bobby Witt Jr.’s remarkable two-out double on an Erik Swanson splitter headed toward his back leg, followed by Vinnie Pasquantino’s double off Genesis Cabrera that made it 4-1 in the eighth.
Schreiber followed with a clean eighth before James McArthur closed out the ninth, the much-improved Royals (18-13) ending a two-game win streak for the Blue Jays (15-16).
“He’s really good. He is as advertised,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Ragans. “That’s a tough matchup for anyone, really. He had changeup, 100 mile an hour fastball, slider, cutter – he’s really good. I thought that as it went, we did a better job of grinding out some AB’s, but it’s a fight, man. He’s throwing changeups behind in the count, he’s throwing it first pitch. It’s tough to do when you’re gearing up for 100. So credit to him and the guys battled and just came up one swing short there in the seventh inning.”
The seven innings from Berrios were particularly timely after Yariel Rodriguez made it through only 3.2 innings in Monday’s series-opening, 6-5 win, and then hit the injured list Tuesday with thoracic spine inflammation.
He’ll be shut down from throwing for five days and be reassessed from there, with no immediate timeline for how long he might be out.
Canadian reliever Zach Pop was recalled from triple-A Buffalo to take his place while the Blue Jays figure out what to do Sunday, when Rodriguez’s next turn comes up.
That made Alek Manoah’s latest rehab starter for the Bisons especially pertinent and he did exactly what the Blue Jays hoped for at Indianapolis, striking out 12 over six innings of one-run ball. He allowed only two hits and two walks, but more tellingly generated 19 whiffs on 39 swings while 62 of his 92 pitches went for strikes.
“When everyone asks, what are you looking for from Alek, that was it and maybe even a little bit more,” said Schneider.
Rodriguez’s spot next comes up Sunday at Washington while Manoah’s rehab assignment expires Monday, meaning if he’s healthy it has to be resolved by activation from the injured list or an option, so need and opportunity are suddenly intersecting.
But the Blue Jays have a few options. They could bring Manoah up and start him in the finale versus the Nationals, or have him make another rehab start with Buffalo to cement his progress and make a call after.
With off-days May 2, 6, 9, the Blue Jays can roll with four starters until May 14, or even run a bullpen game or two.
“You could do it a variety of ways,” Schneider said aptly.
The Blue Jays, of course, went with a four-man staff for much of June a year ago while Manoah was in the minor leagues trying to correct and it took a toll on the other four starters that Berrios said “was more mental knowing we don’t have off days.”
He called the periodic extra day of rest afforded by off-days “especially important” but added, “we have to be ready for both options” and “if that’s the situation, we have to figure out and do our best to go out there every five days.”
“We are a team. We are Blue Jays,” he added. “We need to do whatever we need to do to win ballgames.”
At the same time, asking Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and Kevin Gausman to do it again now, even if just for a brief stretch, might be a bit much, which is why Schneider said “you want to do what’s right for him, for us, for everyone.”
“You don’t want to just say, ‘All right, let’s go, Alek, you’re in,’” Schneider continued. “Whenever you’re calling guys up, really, you want them to be going good.”
Especially while the rest of the rotation is performing the way they have been, Berrios front and centre.
