Blue Jays starter Sanchez relieved to be returning to the mound
TORONTO — A freak injury had Toronto Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez worried he would once again finish the season on the sidelines.
The right-hander has been sidelined with a contusion to his right middle finger since he was pulled from a road start against the Los Angeles Angels after one inning on June 21. The cause of the injury, which eventually landed him on the 60-day disabled list, was a mystery until Wednesday, when he admitted the finger got stuck in his suitcase as it accidentally fell over.
Sanchez had seen Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez take his lumps for suffering a Grade 2 MCL sprain and minor tear on the eve of opening day after carrying a suitcase up some stairs at his home, and he didn’t want to get laughed at. He also didn’t want to let about 180 friends and family members down that day in Anaheim. It was the Barstow, Calif., native’s first chance to pitch in front of his loved ones as a professional.
“That probably didn’t help matters, but when you’re a competitor and this is all you know, sometimes you don’t think in situations,” Sanchez said on Wednesday after returning to Toronto for the first time in months.
While his competitiveness might have gotten the best of his judgment little more than two months ago, it is also what Sanchez will rely on when he returns to a big-league mound. That outing is tentatively scheduled for Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies, barring any unexpected red flags when he throws a side session on Thursday’s off day.
Thursday, he’ll wear a jersey with the nickname “Sanchize” on his back — a moniker earned as he made a name for himself during the Jays’ 2015 run to the American League Championship Series and a nod to his importance within the organization — as part of the Players’ Weekend celebrations.
Considering the injury luck — or lack thereof — Sanchez has had recently, it is perhaps understandable that the right-hander didn’t think he would make it back to the big leagues this season.
In 2017, Sanchez’s year was derailed largely by blister issues. He was limited him to eight sporadic starts — three in April, two in May and three in July — a 3-5 record and a 4.25 ERA. It was a far cry from his 2016 performance, when Sanchez led Major League Baseball’s American League with a 3.00 ERA and looked like he could become the rotation’s ace.
That prolonged absence didn’t help much in the early goings of this season, but at least Sanchez was on the mound. He made 15 starts, with a 6-9 record and a 4.52 ERA, before he got hurt again. Like the temperamental blisters, Sanchez couldn’t tell you why his finger took so long to rehab this year. He could barely bend the swollen digit when the injury occurred, although he was told there was no structural damage. It wasn’t until after the allstar break that it started responding better, but by that point he had missed so much time that he had to build himself back up to game shape slowly.
Sanchez gave up nine runs — eight earned — on 13 hits, walking 10 and striking out 11 in three rehab games with Gulf Coast League Blue Jays, the Class-A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays and the Double-A New Hampshire Fishers Cats. His pitch count reached 86 with the Fisher Cats on Monday and Sanchez doesn’t expect to have any restrictions in terms of pitch count should he return on Saturday.