Blue Jays Get Refreshing Win Over Twins As More Questions Loom

Whit Merrifield started the inning at second and is very quick, beating Byron Buxton’s throw to third on a fly ball up the middle by Santiago Espinal to lead off the inning. And it’s how incredibly – the replay appeared to show Merrifield was clearly off – he beat Tim Beckham’s shot after a shallow through ball from Cavan Biggio a pitch later. Hey, the Blue Jays are going to get it. A bit of luck. A catcher’s knee that went down too early, blocking Merrifield’s path to the plate. One that eventually went their way. That gave Romano a new lead to protect in the bottom of the 10th. And in a gutsy performance, the Blue Jays closer clipped three straight Twins — Jose Miranda, Nick Gordon and Gio Urshela — to help bring his team back from the brink and steal a 3-2 win on the road. It was a refreshing result considering the brutality that preceded it, not to mention the six scoreless innings the Blue Jays got from starter Kevin Gausman, who is now riding a 14-inning shutout streak in his last two starts. Gausman was up to his usual tricks, mixing high fastballs with below-the-belt splitters and enough sliders to remind right-handers they had it. He allowed a baserunner in five of his six innings, but the Twins never threatened to redeem them as Gausman stepped up when needed, reaching back for 96’s and even a couple of 97’s in crunch moments. Gausman’s success was built on his command of that fastball, as he allowed just three balls in play over 100 mph and none harder than 102.5 while using the confines of Target Field to his advantage, earning eight flyball outs. And even though he earned 13 swinging strikes — six with his splitter, five with his fastball and two with his slider — it was still a day where Gausman relied on the defense behind him more often than usual. That high volume of balls in play and the consistent movement he struck out could have been part of the rationale for interim manager John Snyder to pull Gausman after just 84 pitches in the sixth and with the bottom of Minnesota’s order complete. No one would have batted an eye if Gausman came back for another one. But Anthony Bass was sharp in the seventh, and even though Yimi Garcia allowed a run in the eighth, thanks to a single, no change, the ball reached Romano in the ninth with a one-run lead. That’s been good enough many times this season, but not Sunday, as Romano hit Carlos Correa with an 0-2 pitch and eventually let him round the bases on singles by Gary Sanchez and Luis Arraez. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays got to Twins starter Chris Archer for one in the second as Bo Bichette doubled off Teoscar Hernandez’s leadoff single and another in the third when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in Cavan Biggio with a single. But they probably should have done more damage considering how well they squared Archer, putting eight balls in play at 95 mph or more. The Blue Jays had four outs against Archer on balls in play with expected batting averages above .440, including a 104 mph Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lineout in the first, a 105 mph laser by Alejandro Kirk at second a batter later, and a 106 mph Matt Chapman grounder to short in the fourth. Toronto’s bats were much quieter the rest of the afternoon, as the Twins bullpen threw four innings of relief behind Archer before extras. Just as quietly, this week’s series against the Baltimore Orioles has taken on some significance. The Orioles entered Sunday riding a five-game winning streak, moving up the American League wild-card rankings despite trading away Trey Mancini and Jorge Lopez at last week’s trade deadline. Just one game out of the playoff picture and three behind Toronto entering Sunday’s game, Baltimore had gotten uncomfortably close to a Blue Jays team that had been playing .500 ball the past week and a half. Sure, it’s easy to say that Baltimore can’t keep winning the way they are with a rotation featuring Jordan Lyles and Austin Voth. But you could have said the same thing a month ago. Like it or not, Baltimore keeps hitting — at a .614 clip (35-22) since early June. And of the 54 games the Blue Jays have left to play, 15 come against the Orioles. Earlier this season, it was easy to look at this loaded schedule and see an easy opportunity for Toronto to put together wins leading into the playoffs. Not so much now. Baltimore’s surge has been fueled in part by the production of Adley Rutschman, who is finally delivering on his top pedigree, hitting .343/.495/.562 over the last month. Rutschman’s weakness this season has been against left-handed pitching, which has held him to a .155/.286/.224 line over 70 plate appearances. With Rutschman batting second behind left-handed hitting Cedric Mullins, the Orioles have a pocket at the top of their order that any opposing manager would love to deal with late in games with a left-handed reliever. Just one problem for the Blue Jays — they don’t currently have one. After Tim Mayza dislocated his right shoulder on Saturday, Toronto’s bullpen is all right-handed. Trevor Richards has significant back-to-back splits during his career, and Yimi Garcia has crushed lefties to a .157/.241/.294 line this season. But it stands to reason that the Blue Jays would want to sneak at least one true left-handed option in their dugout. Matt Gage could be that guy. He joined the Blue Jays in Minneapolis Sunday morning on the club’s cab team after pitching a scoreless shutout for the Buffalo Bisons a time zone away in Scranton the night before. It would be asking a lot for Gage to be available for such a quick turnaround after a sleepless night. But it could be a possibility this week in Baltimore. And the 29-year-old rookie impressed during an 11-outing MLB stretch earlier this season, allowing just two earned runs over 13 innings while striking out a dozen before entering a roster shuffle. Toronto’s player evaluation model identified Gage as an upside game last offseason, and he’s only done more to prove that right since, posting identical 1.38 ERAs in both triple-A and the majors. No doubt he won some runs. Beyond Gage, there’s Foster Griffin, who the club acquired from the Kansas City Royals in a small deal before the All-Star break. The slugging 27-year-old has made five scoreless appearances for the Bisons since then, but has struggled at the major league level with the Royals this season, allowing six earned runs in 4.1 innings. There’s also Tayler Saucedo, who has been on the injured list since suffering a hip injury in April. Saucedo has been back in contention for some time with Buffalo, pitching to a 0.75 ERA with 15 strikeouts and six walks in 12 innings since late June. But one hurdle is the Blue Jays needing to make a 40-man roster spot for Saucedo, who is currently on 60-day IL and halfway through a second rehab stint that began July 24. Beyond those three — Anthony Kay has been shut down for more than a month — the Blue Jays will have to look outside for left-handed relief. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s Jake McGee claiming waivers for the second time in the last four weeks. McGee was dominant just a season ago, pitching to a 2.72 ERA and 3.35 FIP with a 20.1 K-BB% out of the San Francisco Giants bullpen. He spent much of the year serving as the closer on a 107-win team, turning in 31 saves in 35 chances. But that success didn’t carry over into 2022, as McGee collapsed after a string of rough May outings and ended up on the injured list with lower back tightness. He got better results after his return, stringing together nine scoreless appearances from late May to mid-June and reclaiming the leverage role. But a four-inning stretch in which he allowed six runs on nine hits convinced the Gaints they had seen enough, and the team designated him for assignment in early July. McGee eventually found his way to the Brewers on a minor league deal, but the change of scenery hasn’t affected his results, as he’s now back on waivers after allowing four runs on seven hits in six appearances with Milwaukee. The biggest issue for McGee, no matter where he pitches this season, has been his significantly reduced strikeout rate, which went from 41.8 percent with the 2020 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to 24.3 percent. hundred in 2021 and now 12.4 percent in 2022. . It’s hard to say why McGee’s stuff suddenly stopped being effective. He’s always been a fastball-dominant player, using his heater more than 90 percent of the time each of the last two seasons. But he’s given up an incredible damage percentage with it this year — a .401 wOBA vs. He’s throwing the pitch as hard as ever, averaging 94.6 mph, and he’s using it in a similar fashion to last season. It just doesn’t have the same results. Part of the issue could be McGee’s slider, which has lost significant movement over the past several seasons as he began to throw it harder. Hitters simply aren’t tempted, swinging at McGee’s sliders just 38 percent of the time this year after offering over 50 percent the last two. But that’s still a pitch he only uses 16 percent of the time. He lives and dies by his fastball. Do the Blue Jays see anything in McGee’s delivery that could be tweaked to help his heater play like he used to in the zone? Could they help him regain what he lost in his slider and make it more enticing to hitters? Is…

title: “Blue Jays Get Refreshing Win Over Twins As More Questions Loom " ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-27” author: “Raymond Haslett”

Whit Merrifield started the inning at second and is very quick, beating Byron Buxton’s throw to third on a fly ball up the middle by Santiago Espinal to lead off the inning. And it’s how incredibly – the replay appeared to show Merrifield was clearly off – he beat Tim Beckham’s shot after a shallow through ball from Cavan Biggio a pitch later. Hey, the Blue Jays are going to get it. A bit of luck. A catcher’s knee that went down too early, blocking Merrifield’s path to the plate. One that eventually went their way. That gave Romano a new lead to protect in the bottom of the 10th. And in a gutsy performance, the Blue Jays closer clipped three straight Twins — Jose Miranda, Nick Gordon and Gio Urshela — to help bring his team back from the brink and steal a 3-2 win on the road. It was a refreshing result considering the brutality that preceded it, not to mention the six scoreless innings the Blue Jays got from starter Kevin Gausman, who is now riding a 14-inning shutout streak in his last two starts. Gausman was up to his usual tricks, mixing high fastballs with below-the-belt splitters and enough sliders to remind right-handers they had it. He allowed a baserunner in five of his six innings, but the Twins never threatened to redeem them as Gausman stepped up when needed, reaching back for 96’s and even a couple of 97’s in crunch moments. Gausman’s success was built on his command of that fastball, as he allowed just three balls in play over 100 mph and none harder than 102.5 while using the confines of Target Field to his advantage, earning eight flyball outs. And even though he earned 13 swinging strikes — six with his splitter, five with his fastball and two with his slider — it was still a day where Gausman relied on the defense behind him more often than usual. That high volume of balls in play and the consistent movement he struck out could have been part of the rationale for interim manager John Snyder to pull Gausman after just 84 pitches in the sixth and with the bottom of Minnesota’s order complete. No one would have batted an eye if Gausman came back for another one. But Anthony Bass was sharp in the seventh, and even though Yimi Garcia allowed a run in the eighth, thanks to a single, no change, the ball reached Romano in the ninth with a one-run lead. That’s been good enough many times this season, but not Sunday, as Romano hit Carlos Correa with an 0-2 pitch and eventually let him round the bases on singles by Gary Sanchez and Luis Arraez. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays got to Twins starter Chris Archer for one in the second as Bo Bichette doubled off Teoscar Hernandez’s leadoff single and another in the third when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove in Cavan Biggio with a single. But they probably should have done more damage considering how well they squared Archer, putting eight balls in play at 95 mph or more. The Blue Jays had four outs against Archer on balls in play with expected batting averages above .440, including a 104 mph Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lineout in the first, a 105 mph laser by Alejandro Kirk at second a batter later, and a 106 mph Matt Chapman grounder to short in the fourth. Toronto’s bats were much quieter the rest of the afternoon, as the Twins bullpen threw four innings of relief behind Archer before extras. Just as quietly, this week’s series against the Baltimore Orioles has taken on some significance. The Orioles entered Sunday riding a five-game winning streak, moving up the American League wild-card rankings despite trading away Trey Mancini and Jorge Lopez at last week’s trade deadline. Just one game out of the playoff picture and three behind Toronto entering Sunday’s game, Baltimore had gotten uncomfortably close to a Blue Jays team that had been playing .500 ball the past week and a half. Sure, it’s easy to say that Baltimore can’t keep winning the way they are with a rotation featuring Jordan Lyles and Austin Voth. But you could have said the same thing a month ago. Like it or not, Baltimore keeps hitting — at a .614 clip (35-22) since early June. And of the 54 games the Blue Jays have left to play, 15 come against the Orioles. Earlier this season, it was easy to look at this loaded schedule and see an easy opportunity for Toronto to put together wins leading into the playoffs. Not so much now. Baltimore’s surge has been fueled in part by the production of Adley Rutschman, who is finally delivering on his top pedigree, hitting .343/.495/.562 over the last month. Rutschman’s weakness this season has been against left-handed pitching, which has held him to a .155/.286/.224 line over 70 plate appearances. With Rutschman batting second behind left-handed hitting Cedric Mullins, the Orioles have a pocket at the top of their order that any opposing manager would love to deal with late in games with a left-handed reliever. Just one problem for the Blue Jays — they don’t currently have one. After Tim Mayza dislocated his right shoulder on Saturday, Toronto’s bullpen is all right-handed. Trevor Richards has significant back-to-back splits during his career, and Yimi Garcia has crushed lefties to a .157/.241/.294 line this season. But it stands to reason that the Blue Jays would want to sneak at least one true left-handed option in their dugout. Matt Gage could be that guy. He joined the Blue Jays in Minneapolis Sunday morning on the club’s cab team after pitching a scoreless shutout for the Buffalo Bisons a time zone away in Scranton the night before. It would be asking a lot for Gage to be available for such a quick turnaround after a sleepless night. But it could be a possibility this week in Baltimore. And the 29-year-old rookie impressed during an 11-outing MLB stretch earlier this season, allowing just two earned runs over 13 innings while striking out a dozen before entering a roster shuffle. Toronto’s player evaluation model identified Gage as an upside game last offseason, and he’s only done more to prove that right since, posting identical 1.38 ERAs in both triple-A and the majors. No doubt he won some runs. Beyond Gage, there’s Foster Griffin, who the club acquired from the Kansas City Royals in a small deal before the All-Star break. The slugging 27-year-old has made five scoreless appearances for the Bisons since then, but has struggled at the major league level with the Royals this season, allowing six earned runs in 4.1 innings. There’s also Tayler Saucedo, who has been on the injured list since suffering a hip injury in April. Saucedo has been back in contention for some time with Buffalo, pitching to a 0.75 ERA with 15 strikeouts and six walks in 12 innings since late June. But one hurdle is the Blue Jays needing to make a 40-man roster spot for Saucedo, who is currently on 60-day IL and halfway through a second rehab stint that began July 24. Beyond those three — Anthony Kay has been shut down for more than a month — the Blue Jays will have to look outside for left-handed relief. And wouldn’t you know it, there’s Jake McGee claiming waivers for the second time in the last four weeks. McGee was dominant just a season ago, pitching to a 2.72 ERA and 3.35 FIP with a 20.1 K-BB% out of the San Francisco Giants bullpen. He spent much of the year serving as the closer on a 107-win team, turning in 31 saves in 35 chances. But that success didn’t carry over into 2022, as McGee collapsed after a string of rough May outings and ended up on the injured list with lower back tightness. He got better results after his return, stringing together nine scoreless appearances from late May to mid-June and reclaiming the leverage role. But a four-inning stretch in which he allowed six runs on nine hits convinced the Gaints they had seen enough, and the team designated him for assignment in early July. McGee eventually found his way to the Brewers on a minor league deal, but the change of scenery hasn’t affected his results, as he’s now back on waivers after allowing four runs on seven hits in six appearances with Milwaukee. The biggest issue for McGee, no matter where he pitches this season, has been his significantly reduced strikeout rate, which went from 41.8 percent with the 2020 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to 24.3 percent. hundred in 2021 and now 12.4 percent in 2022. . It’s hard to say why McGee’s stuff suddenly stopped being effective. He’s always been a fastball-dominant player, using his heater more than 90 percent of the time each of the last two seasons. But he’s given up an incredible damage percentage with it this year — a .401 wOBA vs. He’s throwing the pitch as hard as ever, averaging 94.6 mph, and he’s using it in a similar fashion to last season. It just doesn’t have the same results. Part of the issue could be McGee’s slider, which has lost significant movement over the past several seasons as he began to throw it harder. Hitters simply aren’t tempted, swinging at McGee’s sliders just 38 percent of the time this year after offering over 50 percent the last two. But that’s still a pitch he only uses 16 percent of the time. He lives and dies by his fastball. Do the Blue Jays see anything in McGee’s delivery that could be tweaked to help his heater play like he used to in the zone? Could they help him regain what he lost in his slider and make it more enticing to hitters? Is…