Final homestand wraps up today
Right-hander’s forecast for next year’s rotation remains cloudy > YANKEES 5 > BLUE JAYS 1
YANKEES 5, BLUE JAYS 1 Joe Biagini had no trouble with the first 10 Yankees hitters he faced, before the wheels fell off at the Rogers Centre on Saturday,
Spoiler alert. Or not.
Yes, the Blue Jays are seeking to make it difficult for contending teams — first the Yankees, then Red Sox — to win the American League East. However, the Yankees only needed to win Saturday’s game in order to reach their first goal of earning a spot on the post-season dance floor.
That the Bronx Bombers did, with a 5-1 victory over Joe Biagini behind six solid innings from right-hander Sonny Gray.
For Biagini, it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.
The second-year pitcher still has much to do in order to convince this Jays team that he has the ability to become the fifth starter in a winning rotation in 2018. The 27-year-old rolled out what amounted to a tale of two games.
The big right-hander recorded 10 outs after facing 10 batters, thanks to a double play in the second, before running into trouble in the fourth and fifth innings.
“I thought he was really good early,” manager John Gibbons said. “He tired out a little bit, then he lost the strike zone. He was going along attacking pretty good. He was missing on his curveball. He was effective, then I think he just hit that wall a little bit. You could tell. He started losing the strike zone.”
After retiring the leadoff man in the fourth, Biagini allowed a double to Aaron Judge, a three-run homer to Greg Bird and four bases on balls in a span of nine at-bats. He was saved from a worse result by a pair of vicious, line-drive double plays to end consecutive innings.
Biagini’s on-base plus slugging for that nine-batter stretch was 1.800. In five innings, he threw 74 pitches with 38 — more than half — out of the strike zone. What was the difference? What happened from the first to the second time through the Yankees batting order?
“I would say not executing was the biggest thing for me,” Biagini analyzed. “These hitters are really good, and obviously it’s a powerful offensive team. But I feel confident in my ability. If I pitch to my strengths and do what I can do well, I’ll give myself the best chance to have good results, which is the ultimate goal.”
Gibbons would love for Biagini, who had substantial success in a relief role in 2016, to stand up and be counted among possible starters for next season, but it hasn’t happened. Since returning from a 55-day stint at Triple-A Buffalo, where he was acclimating himself to a possible fulltime starting role, the California native has made four of six starts in which he pitched five innings or fewer. Over six starts since his promotion, Biagini is 0-4 with a 6.04 ERA, averaging fewer than five innings.
“I think I’ve established some consistent inconsistency,” Biagini said, starting off on another riddle-filled soliloquy. “It’s frustrating because I’m just continuing to tinker, continuing to try to make sure that I can locate the process that allows that (consistency) to come out. I’ve learned a lot, just having that challenge of trying to find (consistency). What I needed to experience was the experience of (starting). Basically I needed to learn what I needed to learn (about consistency).”
The Jays opened the scoring in the third on a solo home run to straightaway centre field by another auditioning player, left fielder Teoscar Hernandez. The 24-year-old Dominican hammered a Gray pitch fifty shades of out-of-here for his fourth homer of the month. That was all the Jays could muster.
Jose Bautista continued to receive appreciative ovations from the crowd while continuing his recent run of offensive futility in what is likely his final homestand in a Jays uniform. Bautista is on an 0-for-18 slide, 16 of those at bats at home.
The Yankees added a final run in the eighth inning on a solo homer by third baseman Todd Frazier against rookie left-hander Tim Mayza.