A blown save can take all the air out of a building.
From the field to the dugout to the stands: shoulders slumped, cast-down eyes, groans聽鈥 or worse聽鈥 are heard, and often there’s a “here we go again” feeling as the team appears to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Last year, that was certainly the case around these parts, as the Blue Jays’ inability to bounce back from giving up a late lead was a major factor in their last-place finish. They were 3-17 in games in which they blew a save.
This year has been entirely different.
In the month of July alone, Jays’ relievers have blown four saves. The team wound up winning all four games.
Overall, in games in which the team has blown a save, the Jays are, remarkably, a .500 team: eight wins and eight losses.
“It’s not easy to do it, for sure,” manager John Schneider told the Star while the Jays were in the midst of the 10-game winning streak that catapulted them into first place in the American League East.
“It seems like we’ve responded pretty well to some adversity, to someone on the other side hitting a big home run or having a big inning. We take pride in it. It’s become a mentality where if you’re going to get punched, you’ve got to counter-punch.”
In talking to the players about the Jays’ breaking even in games in which their bullpen blows a save, it feels like an extension of the “great vibes” narrative that has been around the clubhouse since the end of May, when the Jays left the .500 mark behind for good.
“It just shows that this team doesn’t quit,” said club home run leader George Springer. “It doesn’t matter the circumstance or the outcome of an inning. Guys know what we need to do whether we’re up one, down one or whatever the case. Guys pretty much just know how to fight until the last out is made.”
Jeff Hoffman, in his first year as a full-time closer, is fourth in the majors in saves with 22, but also shares the Jays’ club lead in blown saves with Yimi Garcia, at four.
“Every win is so important in this game,” Hoffman said during the Jays’ four-game sweep of the Yankees, in which he notched three saves. “Whether I’m the one who saves it or blows it, there are obviously very extreme emotions that you go through. When you blow it, it feels like it’s all your fault. When you save it, you’re on top of the world.”
The blown saves hurt more than the saves converted feel good, for sure.
“But when they do flip the script after my inning is over and we end up winning the game,” said Hoffman, “that boosts the clubhouse so much.”
Right-hander Nick Sandlin, who has since gone on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, came into a game against the Angels on July 4 and gave up a game-tying three-run home run to the first batter he faced, Jo Adell.
He retired the next three batters to maintain the tie and the Jays wound up winning the game in extra innings.
“If you feel like you don’t have to be perfect, then you definitely feel better about the whole process,” Sandlin said the day before his third blown save of the season. “Even if you feel like you blew the game, it’s still a team effort and the whole game might feel like it comes down to what you did on the mound at the end. But if the offence can come back and save you, then of course (it gives us a huge lift).”
Starting pitcher Kevin Gausman has had the bullpen blow a save behind him only once this season. He threw six innings of one-hit shutout against the Cleveland Guardians at Rogers Centre on May 3 and left with a 3-0 lead, but Garcia gave up a gut-punch go-ahead grand slam to Daniel Schneemann with two out in the ninth and the Jays lost 5-3.
A 13-year-veteran, Gausman believes last year’s ugly season has a lot to do with how well things are going now.
“A lot of us took some jabs (last season), took some cuts to the face, some uppercuts,” said the 34-year-old. “I think we all went into the off-season focusing on what we all needed to do better, what we needed to do better as a team and really looked inward. Everybody really put in the work and I can honestly say everybody showed up in spring ready to go, with the right mindset, all with the same goal to bounce back and get back to the playoff team we know we can be. Everybody just really stepped up.”
The difference shows in games in which the Jays force their opponents into a blown save, as well. Last season, when the other guys blew one, the Jays were not an opportunistic bunch, giving the lead back as often as not, going 9-9. This year, when the opponent blows a save, they’re 11-3.
Seems like a recipe for a contender, and so far, the Jays are cookin’.
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