Biagini, Jays top Orioles
If Joe Biagini could bottle what he brings to the mound when he faces the Baltimore Orioles, the Jays might be looking at a guy they could put in the rotation for the entire 2018 season no questions asked.
But, take the three starts he has had against Baltimore out of the picture, including last night’s eight innings of two-run ball, and Biagini just doesn’t seemed suited to the starting role.
Even when he has done well like last night’s season-high eight inning effort, he fails to finish the job needing a ninth inning comeback from his offence to turn a onerun deficit into a walk-off 3-2 win courtesy of rookie Richard Urena’s single to score Darwin Barney from second.
Both the tying run and the winning run came off Orioles closer Zach Britton.
Biagini took a 1-0 lead into the seventh, gave up a one-out double to Trey Mancini and a two-out bloop single to Mark Trumbo to even the game at one.
In the eighth, Biagini got pinch hitter Pedro Alvarez to ground out to second and then gave up the goahead homer to Tim Beckham. He finished the inning but with his team trailing and did not pitch the ninth.
There’s no question there are going to be opportunities to start with this Toronto team a year from now and Biagini should be in the mix but outside of a few starts against the Orioles he hasn’t really looked like a good option.
Tuesday night marked the 15th start of the season for Biagini who has bounced from reliever to starter to reliever and back again this year.
Three of those starts came against Baltimore where he’s 0-2 with a no decision but with an ERA of just 2.21, easily his best work against any opponent while in a starting role.
In the other 12 starts he has posted a 2-8 record with two no decisions and a 6.55 ERA.
In Biagini’s defence both times he came into the rotation it was after a long stint in the bullpen so there was the whole issue of getting stretched out to deal with as well.
The other part of the argument against converting him to a fulltime closer means you don’t have him as a realiver and that’s not necessarily a wise use of available talent either if you are taking a guy who has been reasonably solid to above average as a reliever and moving him to a role in which he has not shown to be anything more than below average most nights.
Granted there is still time both for the Jays to access his potential in the starting role and for Biagini to make what would appear to be necessary adjustments if he is to join the rotation full time but at this point it does not appear to be a likely bet.
Biagini could yet get as many as three more starts this year to alter that perception.
Last night’s game was there for the taking for Biagini but a few late miscues on his part combined with a lack of clutch hitting by the Jays denied him the opportunity to add one more to his win total.
Justin Smoak got Biagini a lead in the third when he lined a shot just over the glove of a retreating Joey Rickard and off the right field wall for a double that scored Luke Maile all the way from first with the only Jays run of the game.
O’s starter Dylan Bundy did not figure in the decision but he seemed inches away all night from taking the loss. The Jays sent Baltimore outfielders to the wall four times in the third and fourth innings alone only to see the O’s outfielders come down with the ball.
CLOSER BY COMMITTEE
With Roberto Osuna attending to personal matters, the back end of the Jays bullpen has had a variety of faces filling that role of late.
Monday night it was Dominic Leone’s turn and he got the job done with a scoreless ninth to protect a 4-3 win.
“I thought Leone looked good,” manager John Gibbons said. “Aggressive and confident.”
Leone was in line for the opportunity with Ryan Tepera needing a bit of a break.
Each of Toronto’s last four saves heading into Tuesday’s game have come from different relieves. Osuna, Tepera, Luis Santos and now Leone all have one.
MARTIN ON WAY BACK
Russell Martin is not done with his 2017 season just yet.
The Blue Jays starting catcher who missed the past month with a left oblique strain was activated from the disable list yesterday and according to manager John Gibbons wants back in the action sooner than later.
Martin has not played since Aug. 11.
“He’s going to take BP again (Wednesday) and if all goes well he’ll be back in the lineup (Wednesday) night,” Gibbons said. “We’ll probably play him a couple of days in a row then give him a day off, something like that, but He wants to do it really bad. There’s a couple of weeks left and it’s important to him. I could have gone either way but he wants to do it so ...”