Jays’ bullpen offering no relief
Hutchison’s solid effort all for naught as Angels rally for one-run victory
Every time the Blue Jays plug one hole, another seems to open up.
As they pass the quarter mark of the season, there are signs of improvement in the starting rotation. But just as the bullpen looked like it was settling in earlier this month as the rotation stumbled, one problem always seems to replace another.
For the second night in a row they got a strong outing from one of their young starters and still came up empty handed, falling 4-3 to the L.A. Angels Wednesday after the bullpen blew a late-inning lead for the third time in less than a week.
Drew Hutchison pitched into the seventh inning for just the second time this season, but the 24-year-old was in no mood after the game to take solace in the moral victory. “We need to win,” he said. “And I need to go out there tonight and give us a performance for us to win. The offence did their job again and we’re not doing ours and we need to do a better job.”
The offence didn’t really do their job on Wednesday — held to just four hits by L.A.’s veteran soft-tosser Jered Weaver — but they have through most of the season while the pitching has faltered.
The culprit on Wednesday, as it has been regularly of late, was the bullpen.
Hutchison exited with two on and two outs in the seventh, the Jays holding a slim 3-2 lead. With Roberto Osuna — who aside from Brett Cecil has been the Jays’ only trustworthy reliever this season — unavailable after pitching on back-toback days, manager John Gibbons tapped Steve Delabar with the game on the line.
A rare right-hander with reverse platoon splits, Delabar has proved tougher on left-handed hitters. In fact, before Wednesday he hadn’t allowed a hit to a lefty this season. But after a costly wild pitch moved both base-runners into scoring position, Delabar allowed the game-winning runs to score on a double to the gap by lefty Marc Krauss.
“We can look back at this in a couple of months and just laugh at it when things turn around,” he said optimistically. “But right now it’s not a lot of fun.” The Jays have now lost nine of their last 11 games, sinking to a season-low six games below .500. Their record in one-run games also drops to a major- league worst 2-8.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” Hutchison said. “We need to win, it’s that simple. We can’t go out there and continue not to get the job done. One way or another, it doesn’t matter what it is, we need to win.”
On the injury front, shortstop Jose Reyes — out since April 28 with a cracked rib — will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday. Gibbons said the plan is for him to rejoin the Jays on Monday. The news was less promising Wednesday for outfielder Michael Saunders, who is expected to miss another six weeks following his aborted return from spring-training knee surgery. Saunders, who had 60 per cent of his meniscus removed in late February, returned late last month but was able to play just nine games before landing back on the disabled list. His knee requires more time to acclimatize to the missing cartilage.
In Dunedin on Wednesday night, last year’s first-round draft pick Jeff Hoffman, who has spent the last year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, made his professional debut for the Class-A Blue Jays, allowing four runs on eight hits and no walks over five innings.