TORONTO – Early Saturday afternoon – before he’d been ejected, before his team had won yet another one-run game – Charlie Montoyo wanted to give his starting rotation a little credit.
“You know,” he began from the manager’s office at Rogers Centre, “our starting rotation leads the American League in innings pitched. There’s a little tidbit of information for you.”
It’s more than a piece of trivia, though. By hauling so many innings early on, Blue Jays starters have consistently kept their team in games while preserving the bullpen for when it counts the most. So far, the combination’s been working. Case in point: Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 win over the Houston Astros.
Starter Jose Berrios pitched 5.2 effective innings before turning the ball over to relievers Adam Cimber, Tim Mayza and Jordan Romano. Together, they held the potent Houston lineup to just one run on eight hits as the Blue Jays improved to 14-8 on the season.
Offensively, the Blue Jays collected only six hits, but since two of them were George Springer home runs, the Blue Jays were able to bounce back from a frustrating loss on Friday night. With the win the Blue Jays are now 8-2 in one-run games, and while that level of success likely isn’t sustainable, those wins are in the bank.
In the fifth inning, tempers flared. With two out and a runner on second base, home plate umpire Nic Lentz called Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out on strikes. That 1-2 fastball? It was a strike. But the first pitch of the at-bat was a ball outside, and Lentz had called it a strike. So was the first pitch of Guerrero Jr.’s first at-bat, and the one that Lentz rung him up on in the first inning.
In that context, Guerrero Jr. was angry. He slammed his bat to the ground and voiced his frustration as he turned back toward the home dugout. At that point, Montoyo emerged onto the field and offered Lentz some choice words of his own. By the time Guerrero Jr. was warming up his fellow infielders at first base, Montoyo had been ejected.
Granted, umpiring is a tough job. No one expects perfection on balls and strikes, and this wasn’t quite at the level of the Angel Hernandez debacle that recently led to Kyle Schwarber’s mini-meltdown. At the same time, it’s fair for hitters to expect more consistency. And zooming out even further, is it good for the game when umpires take the bat out of Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s hands?
Before the game, Teoscar Hernandez and Hyun Jin Ryu both participated in a simulated game Saturday morning, and both could be headed out on rehab assignments as soon as next week. Those reinforcements will help support a group that’s already playing some high-quality baseball.
On Sunday, the Blue Jays will hand the ball to Kevin Gausman, who’s filled the void of defending Cy Young winner Robbie Ray even better than expected so far.
