Scintillating start

Jays pitcher Scott Copeland, called up to give Aaron Sanchez a breather, shines in 7-2 debut win over the Marlins.

The Blue Jays have played 34 straight games without recording a save, including 18 wins since May 4. The Jays have won a total of 31 games for the season. Basic math: With just four of those being complete games, that leaves 27 other victories, with only six of those capped by bullpen saves.

“It’s definitely noticeable,” catcher Russell Martin said in the moments after the Jays had clubbed the Marlins 7-2 to complete a sweep Wednesday. “It feels like it has been a while. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a stretch where it’s been that long just to have an opportunity. It’s funny, strange.”

As a statistic, the save rule as currently defined by major league baseball is clearly overrated. A relief pitcher must finish the game in one of the following circumstances: pitch one inning, entering with a three-run lead or less; record at least one out with the tying run on base, at the plate or in the on-deck circle; pitch the final three innings of a game and preserve a lead of any size. Many managers won’t bring a closer in until one of the first two criteria is met.

Here’s a summary of the last time in which the Jays had a ninth-inning save situation. On May 4, trailing the Yankees 1-0, they scored three runs off Dellin Betances in the bottom of the eighth. Brett Cecil came on in the ninth for a 1-2-3 inning and his second save. Since then, nada, zip, #Maytagrepairman.

Consider that the fabulous website Baseball-Reference.com still lists Miguel Castro as the closer more than a month after he was optioned to Triple-A. And why wouldn’t they? He still leads the Jays with four saves. They have six saves as a team, last by four behind the A’s.

There is an age-old belief that a bullpen closer pitches differently in non-save situations because there is no adrenalin with the game not on the line, no quick burst of energy that is necessary for a usually max-effort closer.

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Walks in seven innings by spot starter Scott Copeland for first big league win. More, S5

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Saves in last 34 games by the Jays bullpen

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Straight wins, longest Jays streak of the season

If that’s the case then Cecil must have had a dreadful 34 games, right? In fact, Cecil has been in 10 games since his last save with a 1.80 ERA.

“You have to pitch the same way every time,” Cecil explained. “When I come in, I don’t necessarily agree with pitching to the score of the game. If a guy’s team is up 11-0 in the ninth inning and he wants to throw a 2-0 curveball to somebody then that’s fine. I don’t ever want to give up hits. It doesn’t matter the score of the game. I’m going to pitch to the batter in the box, and that’s it.”

It’s not like there haven’t been potential save situations for Cecil. In fact, 12 games have seen the Jays with a lead of three runs or less in the seventh inning or later . . . but something always happens. In six of those, the Jays added runs to eliminate the save situation. In six more, the pitching blew the lead in the seventh or eighth. In one of those, on May 20, the Jays led 3-2 over the Angels when Steve Delabar gave up a two-run double in the seventh. Delabar is one of the relievers who sits in the pen during games and has developed a special camaraderie and esprit de corps.

“That’s just another stat,” Delabar said of saves. “Guys come in, they want to get their job done, get their innings in and put up as many zeroes as possible and, like we’ve done in the past, just pass the torch to the next guy and let him get it done. Everybody’s trying to finish their inning. Whether it’s the sixth or the ninth or the 10th or second, guys are just trying to get out there and get their outs.”

No saves is not a topic of team discussion, Delabar claimed, although when Cecil was warming up to pitch the ninth in a 5-2 game on June 6 against the Astros and Justin Smoak slammed a two-run double to crush the save, the boys did have a good chuckle, exchanging bemused smiles with Cecil. “We know that we have a good offence, so we know we can score a bunch of runs at any time,” Delabar said. “Every game that we get in, we think of it as a save situation, anyway, for every player that comes in. It’s a nothing-nothing game (in your mind). You want to go out there and get your job done and that’s that, so we really don’t pay too much attention to that.”

While going 18-16 in their last 34 games, the Jays have outscored opponents 178-127. Over the past 24 they are 14-10 and have not lost by more than two runs. With the Jays bullpen struggling to find even one save chance, on June 2 vs. the Nationals they lost another when their catcher Martin stole home to give them a four-run lead. He was asked if he would like to take that moment back in return for a save.

“I don’t feel bad at all,” Martin chuckled as he packed for the Jays’ road trip to Boston, starting Friday, and New York. The club record for consecutive games without a save is 42, set in 1979 when the team was a pathetic 53-109.