JAYS NOW IN TIE FOR FIRST
HOUSTON — The Toronto Blue Jay bats have gone cold, racking up historic strikeout totals and a paltry 10 runs over four games. Somehow, the Jays (62-47) managed to turn that into three wins in four games against the Astros, finishing it off Thursday night with a 4-1 decision that pulls them into a virtual tie for the American League East, percentage points behind the Baltimore Orioles (61-46). In the finale, J.A. Happ tossed six quality innings, allowing four hits, a walk and a run for his 15th win, before Joaquin Benoit, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna closed it out. Devon Travis had three of Toronto’s eight hits, while Edwin Encarnacion hit his 30th home run in the top of the ninth. makes decisions that way.
“You’re always thinking about sustained success and the livelihood of young men. We signed up for that from Day 1, that we started working for the Toronto Blue Jays, that we’re here for their futures as well. That’s at the forefront of every decision that we make.”
That said, the Blue Jays are in a unique situation, in position to make a run at a World Series title and everybody in the clubhouse, including the other five starters, are all in on this decision.
“Everything is on the table when you’re trying to win,” said Atkins. “We’ll consider anything and everything but really we’re just focused on the six-man rotation for now.”
At some point, even with all the alterations that will be made with a six-man rotation, Sanchez’s innings buildup is still going to get into uncharted territory.
“We do have thresholds that would be uncomfortable, like Mark (team president Shapiro) has said,” Atkins said. “There’s not a scenario where he pitches 220, 230 innings. If you look over the course of baseball, finding those outliers is near impossible with those types of increases. So he’s going to go into a territory that’s uncomfortable and uncommon.
“(Sanchez) is comfortable with that. We’ve worked together on what that range or territory should be, but there’s so many variables like we’ve talked about all year, really, that will contribute to ultimately what’s best for him and this team.”