Yariel Rodriguez looks like he’s ready to return to the major leagues.
The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander made his fifth rehab start with triple-A Buffalo — disguised as the Malmö Oat Milkers on Tuesday night — and threw 67 pitches over 4.0 scoreless innings, striking out 10 while allowing three hits and one walk.
In his last appearance with the Bisons, Rodriguez worked 3.0 scoreless out of the bullpen, but returned to the rotation on Tuesday and continued to excel at triple-A.
Rodriguez worked in five different pitches, according to Baseball Savant, tossing 23 fastballs, 19 curveballs, 16 sliders, eight splitters and one sinker. His fastball topped out at 95.1 m.p.h. in the start while averaging 92.3. The pitch also generated four whiffs on nine swings.
His slider was also working in the game. It generated a whiff on all three occasions Worcester hitters took a pass at it, and Rodriguez landed it for a called strike seven times.
Rodriguez is currently on the injured list with thoracic spine inflammation, but his return will be more than welcome for a Blue Jays team that learned last week that Alek Manoah will be out for the season due to UCL surgery.
Bowden Francis got the most recent start as Toronto’s No. 5 starter, working 4.0 innings in a win over the Oakland Athletics.
Rodriguez has now allowed just one run over his five rehab appearances, with his rehab stint set to expire on June 19.
The 27-year-old had posted a 4.11 ERA over 15.1 innings with 16 strikeouts in four starts with the MLB club before hitting the injured list.
With his outing Tuesday completed, Rodriguez dropped his minor-league ERA to 0.52 with 26 strikeouts in 17.1 innings.
