SWEPT IN BEANTOWN
The month of May was not kind to the Blue Jays, who are struggling in all aspects of the game,
The Blue Jays never surrendered at Fenway Park in attempting to rally in the ninth, but for three straight games the Red Sox showed they were the superior team.
Boston completed the sweep Wednesday, leaving the Jays with just nine wins in May. It is Toronto’s lowest win total for the month of May and the first time in single digits since 1981.
In the ninth inning of Wednesday afternoon’s 6-4 loss to the Red Sox and trailing by four, the Jays loaded the bases with nobody out and the tying run at the plate. Kendrys Morales lined a double to the right-field corner, scoring two, but closer Craig Kimbrel escaped the jam. The Jays flew to Detroit for their next series, licking their wounds ahead of Thursday’s day off.
The slumping Blue Jays demonstrated an alarming tendency in Boston, including in the series finale, of not being able to shut down an opponent after scoring. Consider that in four of five innings in which the Jays scored runs in the series, the Sox were able to immediately respond in the same frame. Not good. On Wednesday, right-fielder Teoscar Hernandez drove a two-run homer to left off Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez to tie the game after the Jays were held hitless into the fifth in- ning. That was short-lived, though, as with one out in the bottom of the inning, J.D. Martinez slammed a two-run homer off Sam Gaviglio to reestablish a two-run lead they never relinquished.
The Jays are now six games below .500.
When this season began in late March there were two safe assumptions concerning Jays pitching. One, that Marcus Stroman would be one of the league’s emerging young stars as a starter. Second, that Roberto Osuna would be one of the top ninth-inning closers in the game. Neither of those assumptions has held true. When Stroman was forced onto the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation earlier in May, he had made seven starts and was winless. His final start was May 8 against James Paxton and the Seattle Mariners; Paxton, a Canadian, tossed a no-hitter that day. The first with a chance to replace Stroman was Joe Biagini, then Gaviglio. Along with J.A. Happ, the two have been the club’s most reliable starters in May.
Gaviglio is a strike thrower who keeps the game moving, but all pitchers need run support. After three starts replacing Biagini, the 28-year-old right-hander has a 3.63 ERA and averages 52⁄ 3 innings per outing. When Stroman returns, the question is whether Gaviglio can remain in the rotation.
When experts attempt to parse and analyze the obvious problems of the Jays in the month of May, the club’s pathetic offence and the underachieving starting rotation lead the way. But what cannot be overlooked is the failed performance of a reconstructed and overworked bullpen ever since the removal of Osuna from the active roster following his arrest by Toronto Police Services early on the morning of May 8. When Osuna was anchoring the back end of the bullpen as one of the top closers in the American League, the Jays were 19-16. With manager John Gibbons confident in Osuna’s ninth-inning responsibilities, the skipper was able to mix and match in the eighth with his setup men, giving late innings a semblance of order.
The early numbers reflect the solid late-inning work by the Jays ’pen prior to May 8.
In 35 games with Osuna available, the bullpen in the eighth and ninth innings had a 2.35 ERA, allowing 57 hits and 16 walks in 65 innings with 68 strikeouts and 10 saves.
The relievers most utilized from the eighth on were Osuna (15 times), followed by Ryan Tepera (14), Tyler Clippard (11), John Axford (7) and Aaron Loup (6).
Osuna picked up nine saves in the club’s 19 wins.
Now check out the Jays’ bullpen numbers in the 21 games since Osuna has been placed on enforced administrative leave. After he was removed from the roster, the first four games showed little difference, with just one run allowed in 11 innings combined in the final two frames, plus extras. But in the past 17 games, the late-innings bullpen (eighth and ninth innings) has a 7.45 ERA, allowing 52 baserunners in 30 innings.
The pitchers used most often from the eighth inning on since May 8 have been Tepera (9), Clippard (8), Loup (5), Danny Barnes (3) and Jake Petricka (3).
There seems to be no sense of that “this-game-is-over” confidence when either Tepera or Clippard is handed the ball with a lead in the ninth. It’s possible Osuna isn’t the team’s most valuable player (or its best person), but he could be the Jays’ most important player.
So where does Osuna stand for the rest of this season and moving forward as a talented 24-year-old closer?
Major-league baseball has thrice delayed making any decision on a possible suspension for Osuna. The latest deadline for administrative leave is June 4, which could again be extended.
While on leave, Osuna is being paid and receiving credit for service time, but once any suspension is imposed, it will be retroactive, with the pitcher losing money and service.
Any suspension by MLB will not necessarily rely on the result of that court appearance.