McGowan gives Jays what they needed
PITTSBURGH— The Blue Jays’ bullpen over the course of the past three weeks has been fluid and volatile, somewhat akin to nitroglycerine.
As such, two hours prior to Sunday’s 7-2 win over the Pirates to salvage the series finale, manager John Gibbons summoned his eight relievers and coach Bob Stanley into his cramped office at PNC Park to deliver a rare pep talk to his struggling troops.
“I had some suggestions, some ideas I thought might help,” Gibbons summarized. “I basically told them, ‘we’re going to need you.’ You guys aren’t going anywhere. There’s a lot of the season left. You guys have been good in the past, you’ve been good this year. We’re just in that little rut right now.”
Young Marcus Stroman, who had minutes earlier had stepped out of a limousine following a four-hour ride from Buffalo having just been called up, was included in the pep rally even though he has not been part of the problem.
The Jays, in fact, are hoping the former first-round pick out of Duke University will be a big part of the solution, whether it’s in the ’pen or the rotation.
It did not take long for the Jays to initiate Stroman. Nursing a 7-1 lead in the eighth inning he made his debut, facing Travis Snider, who grounded out to third base. After Josh Harrison tripled, Stroman drilled Neil Walker in the foot and after Andrew McCutchen’s sacrifice fly, Gibbons brought in Brett Cecil to close the game.
But Stroman is now officially a major-leaguer.
“It was awesome the fact that I could get out there and pitch with my mom and girlfriend here,” Stroman said before heading to the bus and the Jays’ next stop in Philadelphia. “I was amped up, tired, so many different things going through your body at once. Once I got out there I felt fine and had a good time. I didn’t execute like I wanted to, but it’s good to get it out of the way.
“I’m still amped up from getting in there. This was the goal. This was a dream come true, so just to be out there today in front of a big crowd and to have my mom here was pretty special.”
Nobody is quite sure of what role Stroman will eventually play with the Jays as they shuffle the deck almost daily, due to injuries and poor performance. He was a closer at Duke and for Team USA, pitched in relief at Vancouver and in the Arizona Fall League, but lately has been a starter of some considerable minor-league repute. His last outing on Tuesday had produced six innings of no-hit ball.
“It is what it is,” Stroman said. “I’m just taking it day by day. I’m crazy excited to be here at the moment, and however things work out will work out.” The Jays have had organizational thoughts about Stroman in the rotation. Just last week, they shifted his Bisons start so he could be shadowing veteran Dustin McGowan with the Jays. But on Sunday it was McGowan, once on the bubble, who went deep into the game, working seven inning to salvage the final game, offering a form of relief to the relievers. Recall McGowan is the one last September that asked for a chance to start. He struggled with stamina, but in the last two games has gone to the mound wearing an insulin-pump to regulate his blood-sugar. He is a diabetic. “My blood sugar actually was up in the game today,” McGowan admitted. “I felt fine. I wouldn’t say I was feeling stronger, it’s not that simple. My blood sugar is still erratic some- times. But that’s part of the game for me, because with the adrenaline going and everything, that’s what I want and I just can’t control it sometimes. You want guys starting going deep in games. That helps the bullpen.” It looks like McGowan is not going anywhere after the injury to Brandon Morrow and the questions surrounding J.A. Happ. Earlier in the season, he McGowan said he had been feeling fatigued at about 65 pitches; on this day he threw 101. In his previous start on April 29 at Kansas City he had pitched six innings, allowing three hits and three walks at K.C., giving him two quality starts in a row.
“McGowan was great,” Gibbons enthused. “Good all around day. We had to have that one.”
It was just the sixth time this season a Jays starter had managed to work at least seven innings. It was also the first time McGowan reached the century pitch mark since June 27, 2008, against the Atlanta Braves.
Scoring runs has not been a problem, as they demonstrated again Sunday.
After the Bucs opened the scoring with a run in the first, Colby Rasmus lofted his fourth career grand slam deep into the right-field stands off Edinson Volquez.
Even after Melky Cabrera clubbed a two-run homer of his own to give the Jays a 6-1 lead, it still did not feel like enough to relax with a shaky ’pen.