ARLINGTON, Texas – If it feels like the Toronto Blue Jays were just in this spot last weekend – in a three-game series of opportunity against a much weaker opponent, trying to line up their pitching for a pivotal set against a division rival next week – well, that’s because they were.
Alek Manoah set them up perfectly for the 6-1 week that followed with 7.1 dominant innings in the opener, laying the groundwork for both the bullpen game that beat the Pittsburgh Pirates the next day and the Kevin Gausman/Jose Berrios combo that swept a Monday doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles.
The blueprint for a weekend deep in the heart of Texas ahead of next week’s five-game series versus the Tampa Bay Rays wasn’t much different for the Blue Jays, who recovered after blowing a late lead to beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 Friday night on Danny Jansen’s RBI single in the ninth.
Raimel Tapia started the decisive rally with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on Santiago Espinal’s deep fly ball and trotted home easily on Jansen’s 68.8 m.p.h. liner over a drawn-in infield before a crowd of 21,329 at cavernous Globe Life Field.
Jordan Romano then locked things down in the ninth, ensuring six table-setting innings from Ross Stripling and another brilliant night in Bo Bichette’s September surge – a run-scoring groundout that opened the scoring in the first, a two-run homer that provided some needed cushion in the third and a one-out triple stranded in the eighth – didn’t go to waste.
Still, it was Stripling, delivering his usual handy work, that kept the club’s pitching plans for a gruelling stretch of 11 games in 10 days on track, even after getting through the final three frames turned out to be heavier lifting than expected.
Adam Cimber got two outs in the seventh but needed Yimi Garcia to bail him out of a runners-on-the-corners jam while Garcia left a runner on third with one out in the eighth for Tim Mayza, who gave up a game-tying RBI double to Corey Seager before getting Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim to end the frame.
Gausman starts Saturday and the deeper he goes, the easier it will be for the Blue Jays to throw another bullpen game Sunday in the series finale. That would allow them to push Jose Berrios back to Monday’s opener against the Rays, with Alek Manoah slated for one of the games in Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader. Mitch White is a candidate to return from the taxi squad as the 29th man to start the other, with Stripling and Gausman handling the rest of that series.
The Blue Jays would need to figure out a starter for Friday’s return engagement against the Orioles, but would have Berrios and Manoah for the weekend.
Working that out is essential, as the lineup took a hit when Lourdes Gurriel Jr., was forced to the injured list with a left hamstring strain. The earliest he could return is for the Sunday finale against the Orioles although interim manager John Schneider said he’s “not quite sure” if Gurriel would be ready in time and added, “it has a chance to be longer, I think. But we’ll know more after the initial 10 days, how he’s responding and go from there.”
The Blue Jays will get a boost Saturday when Teoscar Hernandez returns from paternity leave and anything the offence can do to ease the burden on the pitching staff will be welcome.
