Koehler a hard-luck loser in Jays debut

Veteran reliever strong in spot start, but offence falters, writes Rob Longley.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. Round and round it goes.

When right-hander Tom Koehler took the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays Thursday at Tropicana Field, there were two reasonable reactions.

One would be “who?” And the other would be at least a partial recognition of why the Jays are about to ride out what has been a lost season.

Nothing against Koehler, a veteran hurler who had a number of workmanlike seasons with the Miami Marlins, but he was the 13th starting pitcher the Jays have employed this season.

And his Toronto debut was better than decent, scattering four hits over five innings and giving up just one run in the Jays’ 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. In other words, starting pitching wasn’t the issue Thursday. The main blemish against the Jays’ pitching was a Corey Dickerson solo homer in the bottom of the eighth.

Five different pitchers, including starter Alex Cobb, worked for the Rays, combining to shut down the Jays on just six hits.

But while Koehler gave the Jays a solid effort Thursday, the struggles to fill a five-man rotation with consistent competence has been one of the major sources of the Jays’ demise in 2017.

Last season, when everything went right, the team employed just seven starters during the course of the season.

If Joe Biagini gets the start on Sunday at home against Minnesota, which looks like a strong possibility it will mark the seventh different Jays starter over a nine-game span.

Put a check mark beside that as one of the reasons the Jays have not spent a day out of the AL East basement, never not been able to escape the shadow of .500 and have only sniffed at playoff contention in a year where it wouldn’t have taken much.

A Jays rotation that had the best ERA in 2016 did so without a significant injury hiccup, a tall order in a 162-game season. It’s a far cry from what we’ve seen this season.

Start with the blister to Aaron Sanchez, who was touted as a pre-season favourite to be the ace of the staff. Sanchez has started just eight games, pitched 36 innings and if he returns this season, it will likely be in a bullpen role.

Francisco Liriano was hindered by location and injury problems before being dealt at the trade deadline. J.A. Happ, the 20-game winner from a year ago, has struggled with a 6-9 record.

Happ has picked it up lately, but has also done some time on the DL, back when the team was struggling.

Marco Estrada has had a year he’d most like to forget. That leaves only Marcus Stroman among the starting five that broke spring training to have an overall good season.

With an 11-6 mark, Stroman is the only Jays starter with a winning record. The rotation has included Mike Bolsinger (five starts), Cesar Valdez (three), Mat Latos (three), Nick Tepesch (three), Chris Rowley (three) and Casey Lawrence (two), When Biagini returns, it will be his 12th start.

Tough to make a winning season when a rotation crumbles as quickly as that.

STRONG START

Overall, Jays manager John Gibbons was pleased with the effort of Koehler in his Jays’ debut, in particular, the former Marlin showed off a strong curveball.

The one run he allowed matched a season low and it was the first time in his career that he took a loss allowing one run or fewer.

That said, the veteran was disappointed that he didn’t go longer than five innings.

“Five innings, you don’t want to be pushing 100 pitches. Then you’re asking a lot for the bullpen,” said Koehler, who walked three and struck out seven. “Early in the game, I had a lot of adrenalin. It’s been a while since I had pitched, and pitching for the first time for a new team, there was definitely some excitement.”

JUST JOSHIN’

The Jays thought they had jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the fifth when red-hot Josh Donaldson ripped a ball down the thirdbase line, apparently scoring two.

After a video review, however, the ball was ruled just foul in a decision the Jays dugout wasn’t exactly buying.

“There has to be better cameras than that,” Gibbons said of the review. “That’s the beauty and the curse of replay.”