FAR FROM PITCH PERFECT
Blue Jays hurlers laboured on Labour Day.
BOSTON — Toronto Blue Jays management hoped Mark Buehrle and Marcus Stroman would make this decision selfevident. A weary Buehrle would rally, confirming the benefits of extra rest. Stroman would roll onward and upward and into the rotation.
Instead, both pitchers laboured mightily on Labour Day. While Buehrle took a beating in an 11-4 loss to the Red Sox, Stroman was an hour away in Pawtucket, soaking up similar consequences in a rehab start for Triple-A Buffalo.
Buehrle the elder and Stroman the younger insisted they found encouraging signs beyond their dismal stat lines. Referring to his recent aches and pains, Buehrle said he was feeling better. Stroman said his surgically repaired knee is in great shape and his pitches “felt unreal.”
With the minor-league season over, no more rehab starts remain for Stroman. He will rejoin the Blue Jays, possibly to start in Yankee Stadium Saturday, giving Buehrle the same seven-day rest period he had before Monday’s start.
Immediately after the game, manager John Gibbons said he and GM Alex Anthopoulos will meet to discuss how and when to use Buehrle and Stroman. But given the GM’s public avowals Stroman would start, it’s expected we’ll see Stroman in the Bronx this weekend. That would likely put Buehrle’s next start in Atlanta the following Tuesday.
After Buehrle failed to survive the fourth inning while allowing nine hits and five runs, Gibbons was asked whether he is concerned about the 16-year veteran, who in the past few weeks has admitted feeling achy and tired.
“Yeah, I have some concerns,” Gibbons said. “But we’ll see. He’s one of our five (starters). Just the minute you think something’s up, he responds. He always has, and hopefully, he can do that again.”
Buehrle said he didn’t know whether the extra rest helped. He was ready to start Saturday, then Sunday, before the Jays decided additional rest was in order, he said.
As drained as he might be from making nearly 50,000 pitches in big-league games over a 16-year career — without missing a single start — the long breather was no panacea in Boston. Of course, the four relievers who followed him did not fare much better. Boston collected 17 hits, including four doubles and two homers.
“Besides the results, I feel like I’ll take today, the way I felt and (what) I had location-wise,” Buehrle said, while admitting his most conspicuous location matched the path of Boston bats.
Stroman echoed those sentiments when discussing his rocky start. He lasted three innings, allowing eight hits, four runs and three walks. He struck out five and threw 81 pitches.
Afterward, with his usual zeal, Stroman told reporters he is ready to start in the majors.
“My arm felt great, knee felt great,” he said. “Results didn’t say so, but my stuff felt unreal.”
Stroman allowed his performance might generate differing definitions of “unreal,” but said he will be “100 per cent” ready for the majors after refining his mechanics in a bullpen session.
“I want to face adversity now,” Stroman said. “I don’t want adversity the first time (back) in the big leagues, so it’s good I had to battle today.”
Buehrle’s record is 14-7, his ERA 3.72. In his past four starts, his ERA is 7.11, and that includes one solid start — immediately before his seven days of rest — against the Tigers.
Meanwhile, the last-place Red Sox, newly infused with youth and 13-6 since Aug. 18, have become a formidable foe.
Donaldson, who hit his 37th homer, gave a predictable reply when asked whether the Jays might be looking past the Red Sox to their four-game series in New York starting Thursday.
“We’re playing for the day,” Donaldson said evenly. “We’re staying in the moment.”
When the moment passed on Monday, the Jays led the Yankees by a half-game in the American League East.