TORONTO – No matter how many problems the Toronto Blue Jays may have at a given time, they’ve been able to count on Hyun-Jin Ryu not being one.
The ace left-hander’s consistency and reliability, traits his team has come to depend on every fifth day, made his walking around the mound uncomfortably before signalling to the dugout such a jarring sight in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Ryu had been in control for 3.2 innings when he delivered an innocuous-looking changeup that Manuel Margot sent to centre field for a base hit. He crouched down after the ball touched green, gingerly circled the mound and used his finger to summon help. After a quick conference on the mound, he headed to the dugout with what the team said was a minor right glute strain.
The extent of the injury wasn’t immediately known, but uncertainty about Ryu’s status add more instability to a Blue Jays team facing increasingly urgent defensive problems on the left side of their infield, while they await the returns of George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez.
Already they’ve been running a modified three-man rotation, something two off-days last week and two more this week has allowed them to do, and having to plug another hole won’t be easy. They’re TBA for Tuesday’s opener against the Washington Nationals and Ryu’s next turn is set for Saturday against Atlanta.
Charlie Montoyo managed to avoid using Trent Thornton on Sunday, which makes him a possibility for Tuesday, but beyond that, the options start getting complicated. Anthony Kay, optioned Friday when Tyler Chatwood was activated from the injured list, must remain on option for 10 days unless someone hits the injured list, while Tanner Roark is away from the team on emergency family leave.
Top prospect Nate Pearson, meanwhile, got up to 51 pitches during a start against Miami’s alternate training site team Saturday night, so he won’t be an option any time soon, either.
As they sort that out, the Blue Jays also have to figure out how to deal with the ongoing defensive struggles of Bo Bichette at shortstop and Cavan Biggio at third base. Both got a break of sorts Sunday – Bichette was at DH allowing Marcus Semien to slide in at short, while Cavan Biggio played right field with Santiago Espinal at third – but they face the delicate tight-rope walk of not overweighing a relatively small sample of play against the rising cost of giving them more runway.
“They’re mentally tough, they have been since I have met them,” said major league coach John Schneider, who rose through the farm system with both players. “Our goal for them is that when things are tough is to let them figure it out a little bit. There are times where we’re going to try to give them a blow physically, or mentally like any player. But when the stuff is kind of hitting them a little bit, they’re pretty good at responding in a positive way. You don’t want to beat a dead horse, so to say, and just keep doing the same thing. Every now and then we’ll get them a blow but for the most part, they’re going to grind through it.”
If the offence was providing enough cover for the miscues, it would be easier for the Blue Jays to tolerate the growing pains for a shortstop with only 87 big-league games of defence and a second baseman learning the hot corner at the big-league level.
The presence of Semien, of course, changes the dynamic, as he’s a proven, MVP-calibre shortstop and if Bichette doesn’t come around, the pressure will grow on the Blue Jays to make a switch. An interesting suggestion from Sportsnet colleague Jeff Blair was to move Semien to third and Biggio back to second, his natural spot, but when Semien signed, the Blue Jays asked him which position he’d rather play and second base was his answer.
Wonder if we ever seen Semien at 3B, Bo at SS and Biggio back at 2B? Semien played more games in MLB at 3B than 2B before making move to SS full time. Don’t know the analytics on this but wonder if it would result in net better defence without the optics of moving Bo in season?
— Jeff Blair (@SNJeffBlair) April 25, 2021
Ultimately, there’s no alignment for the trio in which someone isn’t out of place, so there’s going to have to be some internal improvement for the Blue Jays to overcome the defensive problems.
The benefits of crisp defence were on display Sunday, Espinal – whose RBI single in the fifth plated the game’s only run – Semien and Joe Panik provided some crisp fielding. Most pivotally, Panik made a sliding grab on Manuel Margot’s grounder to end the eighth and strand the tying run.
Credit for Sunday’s win, which gave the Blue Jays two of three at Tropicana Field, however, goes to relievers Tim Mayza, Chatwood, Ryan Borucki, David Phelps and Rafael Dolis.
Chatwood escaped a two-on, none-out jam he inherited in the fifth and the Rays didn’t threaten after that, either, as the bullpen continued its impressive start to the season.
If Ryu misses any amount of time, their job will only become ever more taxing.
