The New York Yankees made headlines this past week when their revamped bullpen fell apart. On Sunday, it was the Blue Jays’ turn to do the same.
The Jays expect their relievers to be a strength over the final two months of the season and well into the playoffs. During the series finale against the Kansas City Royals, they were a weakness.
New set-up man Louis Varland failed to preserve a one-run lead in the eighth inning and when the game went to extras, Seranthony DomÃnguez couldn’t find the strike zone. What should have been a win — and a series victory — turned into a 7-4 loss at the Rogers Centre.
“First time we’ve seen it,” Jays manager John Schneider said when asked about DomÃnguez’s struggles. “I think in that situation, you’re looking for strikeouts and he can do that ... He’s got a really good fastball and we trust him to miss bats. It just didn’t work out.”
The Yankees and Jays received a lot of praise for upgrading their ‘pens prior to the July 31 trade deadline. It was a point of emphasis for both teams and, while neither added a new closer, they acquired big arms to pitch in high-leverage roles.
The initial returns have left a lot to be desired. On Friday, Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval allowed nine runs over 2 1/3 innings for the Yankees. Two days later, the Jays’ duo of Varland and DomÃnguez allowed six runs while registering just three outs.
In fairness to Varland, his transgressions were relatively minor. He tossed a clean inning in his Jays debut on Friday. On Sunday, the 27-year-old right-hander retired the first two batters he faced before allowing a double to Bobby Witt Jr. and an RBI single by Vinnie Pasquantino.
DomÃnguez was much worse, despite three scoreless appearances for the Jays entering Sunday. The first pitch he threw in the 10th resulted in an RBI double. Then he hit a batter before walking Witt during a stretch of seven consecutive balls. Kansas City’s Tyler Tolbert later added an RBI single and DomÃnguez was pulled without having recorded an out.
That’s part of the deal with DomÃnguez. When he’s on, the Dominican has the ability to overpower hitters and generate a lot of swing-and-miss; when he’s off, he has a tendency to scatter the ball. That’s why he’s averaging career highs in both strikeouts (11.6) and walks (five) per nine innings.
“Obviously not (Sunday) but overall, they’re going to be really good for us,” Jays starter Chris Bassitt said of the bullpen additions after he limited the Royals to one run on one hit and three walks across six quality innings.
The Jays exited the all-star break on a roll — 8-1 to further cement their spot atop the American League East — but since then it has been a struggle. They dropped three out of four to the last-place Baltimore Orioles before losing two of three to the Royals. It marked the first time since the middle of May that they’ve lost back-to-back series.
Star sports columnist Gregor Chisholm joins the “Deep Left Field” podcast to review the Jays’
The good news for the Jays is that while they scuffled, the Yankees did the same. New York got swept by the Miami Marlins this weekend and remains 4 1/2 games back of first. Meanwhile, it’s the Boston Red Sox who are inching closer after sweeping the Houston Astros, which brought them within three games of the Jays.
The Jays were bound to take a dip at some point. It’s how quickly they respond that matters. With three road games looming against the 30-81 Colorado Rockies, starting Monday night, the Jays should be expected to end the series losing streak before moving on to a highly anticipated matchup against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
“Big-time series against the Yankees, then a big-time series against Detroit for the best record (in the AL),” Bassitt said about the Jays’ play coming out of the break. “I thought we just laid an egg in Baltimore. We ran into a really hot offence and we weren’t ready for it.
“Overall it’s just, take your licks. It’s going to happen through the year. We went through a big stretch giving everyone else that kind of thing. It’s about getting back to who we are as a team. Good pitching, from the starters to the bullpen, then grind out at-bats and be a good offensive team.”
The beautiful thing about meaningful baseball late in the season is how much the emotions can swing in a short period. One week, it looks like someone should start planning a parade. The next, it looks like the post-season might not even turn into a reality.
The Jays are going to experience a lot of that over the next two months. They might be down now, but all it will take is a big series against the Rockies to get right back up.
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