Another wild outing for Chatwood
The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 6-5 loss in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader in Cleveland, after taking the opener 4-1:
Tyler Chatwood had an incredible start to his Blue Jays career, posting a ridiculous ERA of 0.53 through his first 16 appearances, with just five walks and 24 strikeouts over 17 innings.
It seemed as though the Jays unlocked something in the former Cubs and Rockies starter by moving him to the bullpen, as Chatwood appeared to have solved the control issues that led him to average nearly six walks per nine innings over the past four seasons.
The righty had earned the trust of the coaching staff, and he was given the ninth inning for the first time on May 23, tasked with locking down a 4-2 lead against Tampa Bay.
It did not go well, as Chatwood uncharacteristically walked the leadoff man and wound up allowing a couple of singles, getting the hook after walking Yandy Diaz on four pitches to load the bases with two out.
The righty was not happy to be lifted with a one-run lead, and was even less happy when Travis Bergen, who took over, issued three straight basesloaded walks.
Two days later, Chatwood came into a game against the Yankees to record four outs in relief of Steven Matz, but he did issue a couple of free passes.
His next outing, in Sunday’s nightcap, was a disaster.
He came in with two on and nobody out in the sixth, with the Jays holding a 4-2 lead, and gave up an RBI single to the first batter. The righty then got a double-play ball on which the tying run scored, issued a walk and got an inning-ending fly out.
After the Jays took the lead back with a run in the top of the seventh, Chatwood came out to try to lock it down again and, after a fly out to start the inning, issued four straight walks, missing the strike zone on 16 of 19 pitches to hand Cleveland the ball game.
Chatwood walked as many hitters Sunday as he had over those first 16 terrific outings of the season. á Sizing him up: Cleveland went with lefty Sam Hentges to start the second game, giving the rookie just his fourth major-league start.
The 24-year-old fed the Jays a steady diet of fastballs that touched 96 miles per hour over the first couple of innings, mixing in a few curveballs and the occasional slider, and it worked.
The first time through the batting order, the Jays managed just one hit, a ground single up the middle by Santiago Espinal, and a Randal Grichuk walk.
But the hitters used that first look at Hentges to see what they were dealing with, and they used the information gained in that first look to great effect the second time through, while Hentges did the opposite.
With one out and nobody on in the top of the third inning, Marcus Semien came up for his second plate appearance and drew a walk. Bo Bichette followed by fouling off three straight two-strike offerings before lining a single to right, then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked to load the bases.
While Hentges had gone fastball-heavy when seeing Jays hitters the first time, he changed things up second time through, throwing just four fastballs out of the 18 pitches to Semien, Bichette and Guerrero.
The young lefty went back to the fastball with Teoscar Hernandez at the plate and paid for it, as Hernandez hit a rocket off the top of the wall in rightcentre, just inches away from a grand slam. The 409-foot shot would have been a home run in 27 of the 30 major-league ballparks, but Hernandez settled for a three-run double and was quickly doubled home by Randal Grichuk, who blasted a shot high off the wall in left.
That was it for Hentges. After holding the Jays to a .125/.222/ .125 line in their first look at him, they hit 1.000/1.000/1.667 the second time around, sending him to the showers.