SEATTLE — Finally, the Toronto Blue Jays got some offence Sunday.
A season-high nine runs allowed the Blue Jays to coast to victory instead of stressing over every last out, as has been their norm so far this season. The need for offence was there for all to see, and the benefits are clear, as the team’s top relievers now get two days of rest ahead of their home series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
But in the week leading up to Sunday’s offensive outburst, the Blue Jays’ starting pitchers didn’t point any fingers at the offence. Quite the opposite in fact, as veteran starters Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and José Berríos each said they were the ones who needed to improve.
“Us as starters, we have to do a better job,” Gausman said after his most recent start.
“We’ve got to get to the seventh more consistently. We’re putting our bullpen in a tough spot. We don’t have too much depth, so we need to keep those guys healthy. And the way that we do that is by the starters going deeper. We just have to do better.”
Speaking after his most recent start, Bassitt struck a similar tone.
“I don’t really look at the offence,” he said. “A lot of people have made judgments about it, but I think it’s more so starters, (who) I think have just got to do a little bit better job, especially me.
“The last three or four (starts) I just feel like I’ve made so many mental mistakes where I just think we could have won at a different margin and let that back end of the bullpen just have a day off. Just little stupid things like that just add up.”
While it’s technically true that better starting pitching would help, Gausman, Bassitt and Berrios are all off to strong starts with ERAs between 3.35 and 3.97, plus they’re close to averaging six innings per start.
Regardless of how they framed things, it was always going to be on the hitters to produce. And still, there’s a need for more offence from a lineup that ranks 27th in baseball in home runs.
But at least by taking accountability instead of looking for others to blame, the Blue Jays’ veteran starters bought the offence a little time. Anyone around the Blue Jays can see that the offence was struggling early, but dwelling on that publicly wouldn’t have made anything better and, realizing that, the team’s veteran starters redirected criticism towards themselves.
Of course, that gesture matters most if the hitters continue to turn things around. The hope after Sunday is that the offence can now build on the outburst and do their part to create some breathing room for the pitching staff.
With George Springer building on his hot start, Anthony Santander (shoulder) tentatively expected to return to action Tuesday and Addison Barger playing the best baseball of his brief major-league career, there are at least a few reasons to maintain a little hope that the offence will be better than it has been so far.
“We need to stay together,” Berrios said. “All together as a team.”
Perspective from Garcia
Yimi Garcia allowed three runs in Anaheim Monday night, and when he loaded the bases before recording an out in his next appearance, it seemed possible he might spiral again. But after a fielder’s choice and two strikeouts, the right-hander had pitched a scoreless inning to help set up a Blue Jays win.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are or what kind of player you are,” Garcia said. “You’re going to have some difficult moments in this game. Nobody’s perfect for four, five, six, seven, eight months.”
Asked how he moves past challenging outings, Garcia said that after more than a decade in the big leagues, he knows there’s little to be gained by stressing himself out after a tough one.
“I go to sleep relaxed,” he said. “I don’t worry.”
As for the physical side of things, Garcia said his work with Blue Jays team trainers has helped him stay relatively fresh despite pitching in 17 of the team’s first 40 games.
“They know what they’re doing,” he said. “A little bit of rest, and we’re good.”
Mental prep from Francis
When Bowden Francis throws his next bullpen between starts, he’ll finish the session by picturing some of the Detroit Tigers’ best hitters in preparation for his start against them next Friday.
By imagining that he’s facing someone like Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson or Kerry Carpenter, he prepares himself mentally for the challenge ahead.
“You visualize them in the box and then you kind of have a plan for them,” he explained. “I already have a plan, so in the ‘pen I can kind of simulate what I’m going to do two days later.”
