Jays in flux as break, deadline near
But rookie Borucki offers a glimpse of the future on the mound as he keeps Yankees offence in check through seven strong innings
Some jokester has taped a Baseball America cover in Josh Donaldson’s cubicle.
The magazine issue with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the front.
The Guerrero who is, according to Blue Jays manager Ross Atkins, a little bit ahead of schedule rehabbing in Florida from a strained patella tendon. The 19-year-old who is ranked the top prospect in all of baseball. Toronto’s likely third baseman of the not distant future.
That injury has temporary quelled the fan base’s imploring, GIVE US A V, GIVE US AN L, GIVE US AN A-D-I! While Donaldson, with a recent setback, continues to delicately mend from his own left calf strain.
It’s a kind of dark humour josh in the clubhouse.
While one would never finger the culprit without irrefutable proof, one has it on fairly good authority that a certain catcher is behind the tease. The same catcher who, in the 10th inning on Sunday afternoon, seemed at his wit’s end trying to convey signs to reliever Tyler Clippard — semaphoring that got so elaborate that Russell Martin looked like he was trying to taxi in a 747.
In any event, the upshot was a fastball that just grazed Greg Bird’s elbow pad, putting the Yankee on first base to lead off the inning. A sacrifice fly advanced pinch runner Tyler Wade 90 feet, and he scored on a soft liner that left fielder Teoscar Hernandez had to play on a bounce and a hop. Hernandez made a strong throw to the plate, but not in time, as Wade sprinted home to put New York up 2-1.
And there the score remained, Toronto set down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
The Bronx Bombers, who didn’t do excessive bombing in their weekend sojourn north of the 49th parallel, took two out of three games from the Blue Jays while continuing their hot pursuit of Boston atop the American League East.
The Jays, who finished their homestand at 4-5, now take their act back on the road for the next six ahead of the allstar break, with four at Fenway next weekend.
It’s intriguing to wonder how the roster will look by the time the club returns to the Rogers Centre and with the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline looming.
These same Yankees are believed to be deeply interested in acquiring pending free agent J.A. Happ to bolster their starting rotation and would dearly love to have the lanky lefty sooner rather than later, optimally in time for a four-set with the Central-leading Indians that starts on Thursday.
Happ isn’t scheduled to pitch in the upcoming two-game series versus the Braves and could have been sent on directly to Boston, Toronto’s next opponent. But he said he’s going to Atlanta with the team on Monday.
Who else might not wind their way back to the centre of the universe, as Jays management peels off players afore the deadline?
Marco Estrada, maybe, if he’s good to go again after getting pulled in the first inning last Tuesday with hip pain. Solarte Yangervis, leading the team in home runs, hits and RBIs? Curtis Granderson, with his veteran savvy, might be attractive. Reliever Ryan Tepera? The no-touch Jays are few and Donaldson, who might have been Toronto’s most fetching asset, is stuck on the DL.
But Toronto will have their stud closer, Roberto Osuna, back in the fold when his MLB suspension for alleged domestic violence expires on Aug. 4. Osuna is eligible to begin a rehabilitation assignment on Saturday and skipper John Gibbons, for one, is eager to have him in the bullpen. “I’m very disappointed in what happened,” Gibbons told reporters on the weekend, “but I love the kid. I’ve been with him since he arrived here. I hope it’s all resolved. Whatever the penalty is, whether it’s counselling, whatever it might be, I hope he turns his life around.”
Gibbons was referring to Osuna’s court appearance, scheduled for Monday afternoon, when we should learn whether the 23-year-old is routed to a diversion program. His lawyer said Osuna intends to plead not guilty but there have been discussions with the Crown to resolve the matter before he steps foot in the Old City Hall courtroom.
So, for the Jays, everything was in flux as the team depart- ed Rogers with a 24-25 home record.
On an afternoon when Kendrys Morales blasted his 200th career home run — only the fifth Cuban-born player to reach that threshold — and brought the Jays level at 1-1 in the sixth against rookie moundsman Domingo German, Toronto was unable to scare up enough offence to make a winner out of their own novice starter, Ryan Borucki.
Through 20 innings in three starts, the 24-year-old has received only two runs in support. Yet he’s fared well against some of the toughest batting orders any pitcher could confront — World Series-champion Houston and the Yankees in the past fortnight.
“Obviously it’s a confidence boost,” said Borucki, who held the Yankees to seven hits in seven innings, with five strike- outs. “These guys are some of the best lineups in baseball. But I don’t really care who I go against. I’m going to pitch the same way I always do. Obviously you’ve got to focus a little bit more when you’ve got Judge and Stanton in there, in that tight spot. But it’s been fun so far.”
That’s Giancarlo Stanton, who doubled and singled off Borucki but also hit into a double play to end the fifth with two men on. That single had the highest exit velocity — 120.3 mph — of any baseball in the majors this year. And Judge, who singled and scored in the first and walked on a full count in that fifth ahead of Stanton.
Said Gibbons of Borucki’s tidy outing: “I thought he was tremendous today. But I thought he was a little bit off with his command than he was in his previous (starts). He got better as the game went on. Yeah, he showed me plenty of good things. He’s hung in there. He’s thrown seven innings in (two games), six innings in another. Pretty impressive.”
Adding: “It’s good to throw guys into the fire, especially if you … know he’s a big part of the future here.”
These are pitching grace notes in a season of starter wonkiness and injury.
A little more run support wouldn’t hurt though, say, when Borucki makes his next start in Boston.
“Ah, I’ve seen us hit really well while I’ve been here,” shrugged the low-key southpaw.
“It is what it is. I’m just going to keep doing my thing and let the boys play defence behind me.
“Whatever happens happens.”