Hobbled Saunders joins Devon Travis on disabled list
TORONTO • Things are getting rather thin on the Blue Jays bench these days.
Already down a man with Devon Travis sitting out a third consecutive day with a sore right hand after having a cortisone shot, the Jays are down one more with Michael Saunders dealing with a tight hamstring.
According to manager John Gibbons, Saunders’ hamstring “locked up on him” in Wednesday’s loss to the Angels and he was out of the lineup Thursday, with Ezequiel Carrera in right field and Melvin Upton Jr. in left.
As far as healthy options on the bench available to the Jays, that leaves just backup catcher Josh Thole and infielder Justin Smoak.
Neither Travis nor Saunders is expected to be sidelined long, although Travis was only expected to miss one day initially.
September call- ups arrive in a week, but that’s not much help to the Jays right now.
BAUTISTA BACK
On the plus side, there was the return of Jose Bautista, but to make room on the roster, the Jays had to option infielder Ryan Goins back to Triple-A Buffalo.
Bautista was in the lineup at designated hitter, where he will remain for at least a few days. Gibbons sounded like he preferred that as a precautionary measure for at least the next little while to allow Bautista to ease back into the line- up without putting too much wear and tear on the knee injury that put him on the disabled list in the first place. Bautista said he is fully ready to resume his right- field duties whenever called upon by Gibbons.
BULLPEN STREAKING
It’s not just Joe Biagini who is putting up zeros in the earned- runs column these days from the Blue Jays pen. Biagini’s streak remains at 19 2/ 3 scoreless innings dating back to July 5, but right- hander Jason Grilli has also not allowed an earned run in his past 10 innings, a number which newcomer Joaquin Benoit has matched.
Over his last 10 games, Grilli has held opponents to a .097 average ( 3- for- 31). In 11 games since joining the Jays from Seattle, Benoit has held opponents to a .189 batting average and just one extra base hit.
Biagini, meanwhile, needs just 4 1/3 more scoreless innings to match Ricky Romero’s team record for rookies for longest scoreless inning streak. Romero got to 24 consecutive scoreless innings in 2009.
QUICK HITS
In the upcoming three-game series with the Minnesota Twins that will begin Friday, the Jays will not see a starting pitcher with a winning record. Left- hander Pat Dean ( 1- 3, 5.48), right- hander Ervin Santana (6-10, 3.39) and righty Kyle Gibson ( 5- 8, 5.09) will oppose the Jays, who send out Francisco Liriano (01, 3.57), Marcus Stroman (9-5, 4.47) and R.A. Dickey (9-13, 4.43).