TORONTO — Three separate elements from Yariel Rodriguez’s fourth big-league start are noteworthy for the Toronto Blue Jays as the Cuban right-hander continues his acclimation to the rotation.
First, the Kansas City Royals became the first club to get a second crack at him, working him for three runs on six hits and three walks on 82 pitches in 3.2 innings Monday night. While it never felt like the outing might unravel on him, he did surrender four balls hit at 103.5 m.p.h. or harder plus two more at 97.4 and 98.3.
Second, this was his first time making consecutive starts on normal rest and it didn’t seem to impact his stuff much. His fastball sat at 93.9 m.p.h., down a tick from his average of 94.4, while it topped out at 97.6, meaning he still could reach back when needed. He did go heavier on slider than heater this time, 26 to 22, while featuring his splitter more often than he has, throwing 15 of them to up his usage from 10 to 18 per cent.
Third, this was the first time Yariel Rodriguez started without Bowden Francis to piggyback behind him, which with Jordan Romano and Yimi Garcia unavailable, made navigating the final 5.1 innings of a 6-5 victory all the more challenging for manager John Schneider.
That made the Blue Jays’ first game with five-plus runs since a 9-8 loss to the New York Yankees on April 6, led by Justin Turner’s two home runs and Danny Jansen’s solo shot, particularly timely.
It’s a credit to the pitching staff and defence that they survived the 20-game stretch with five-or-less at 10-10 but sometimes the offence will need to do the heavy lifting.
There was still more leverage than ideal under the circumstances, but 1.1 innings from Genesis Cabrera followed by an inning each from Trevor Richards, Tim Mayza, Erik Swanson and, intriguingly, Nate Pearson handling the ninth, bridged the gap.
The Pearson move was especially interesting given that he got the top of the Royals lineup, Bobby Witt Jr. included, Schneider opting for his big velo with Swanson still finding his way after opening the season on the injured list.
Pearson surrendered a leadoff single to Maikel Garcia before Witt hit into a fielder’s choice, Vinnie Pasquantino flew out, pinch-hitter Salvador Perez put men on the corners with two out and Michael Massey struck out to the relief of a crowd of 29,879.
How all of the above played out is important with Rodriguez a part of the rotation for the foreseeable future, with pitching coach Pete Walker saying, “we’re not necessarily thinking of him as a bulk guy right now – he’s a starting pitcher. And we’re hoping he’s a two-times-through the order guy.”
Given that the club was initially thinking about 100 innings this season for Rodriguez, who missed all of last year while coming to North America, that puts a cap on how deep he can go each time out and how long the Blue Jays can roll in this alignment.
Alek Manoah will make his next rehab start with triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday and his progress is important as the Blue Jays’ ideal alignment is a productive Manoah starting with Rodriguez going wire to wire in the bullpen.
That means an ongoing balance with Rodriguez.
“We’re just going to take it game-by-game, monitor him, obviously try not to push him too far,” said Walker. “We’ve already kind of gotten to a point where you could say it’s fairly aggressive, but I still think that he’s responding well. He wants the ball. And he does have a history of throwing. It’s not like a 21-year-old that you’re talking about. We’re going to monitor him game-by-game. And if we have to go into a game with a lower threshold, that’s possible, too. But right now, we’re going to let him let him go and make adjustments as we need to.”
