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 setting the stage for a bullpen that’s been equally effective. So far, the combination’s been working despite some underwhelming – and occasionally frustrating – results at the plate. Case in point: Saturday afternoon’s 2-1 win over the visiting Houston Astros.
“As a team, we’re in a great spot,” said George Springer, who homered twice against his former team. “We’ve played some close games for sure, but it’s all good. This is a team that has to go through it, that needs to understand what it’s like to do it and we’re starting to see that we can.”
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 only collected six hits, but since two of them were Springer home runs, the Blue Jays got just enough production to come out ahead. 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 now.
“We’ve got pitching and defence,” Montoyo said afterwards. “We have a great bullpen and of course, Berrios was very good … at the end of the day it’s making all the plays and throwing strikes because there’s no room for error.”
Beyond the Springer home runs, the most memorable play of the day was arguably a called strikeout. 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 frustrated. He slammed his bat to the ground and voiced his frustration as he turned back toward the home dugout.
"This time it wasn't even one or two (pitches). It was three or more pitches that weren't even close to the strike zone," Guerrero said afterwards through interpreter Hector Lebron. “It’s frustrating, sometimes. We’re human beings.”
When Guerrero slammed his bat down, Lentz pointed at the first baseman, indicating that he had made an equipment violation and would be fined. It was right around then that Montoyo emerged onto the field, intent on shifting the focus away from his star player. He offered Lentz some choice words of his own and before long he’d been ejected.
“I’m deflecting attention from my MVP,” Montoyo said. “I’d rather watch the game from the office than Vladdy watch it from the office,” Montoyo said. “The moment I see that, I’m going to go deflect the attention and keep my best player in the game.”
“I just decided at that point to keep walking to the dugout and let Charlie handle it,” Guerrero Jr. added.
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?
“This is not just with me,” Guerrero Jr. said. “They’re human beings. Everyone makes mistakes. They’re not going to be right every time, so you’ve just got to keep going out there and doing the best you can.”
Meanwhile, Springer approached Guerrero Jr. right away and urged him to let the missed calls go.
“Stay in the game,” Springer recalled telling his teammate. “He’s way too important to us (for) a later at-bat. We need him hitting. I just told him to flush it. It is what it is and it’s on to the next one.”
Guerrero Jr. acknowledged he occasionally feels pressure to expand his strike zone, but the return of the Blue Jays’ cleanup hitter could help on that front. 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. One month into the season the Blue Jays have yet to lose consecutive games.
“It’s impressive,” Springer said. “It’s who we are. We expect to win every day. We come out and play as hard as we can and then it’s on to the next one.”
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.
“We are playing good,” Berrios said. “But we can play better.”
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