After making the controversial decision to pull Jose Berrios in favour of Yusei Kikuchi in the fourth inning of Game 2 against the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider explained after the game what went into the decision.
"We had a few different plans in place. Jose was aware of it. He had electric stuff, tough to take him, and I think with the that they're constructed, you want to utilize your whole roster and it didn't work out," Schneider said. "You can look at it broadly and say it didn't work out because they scored two runs when we did make a change, you can also look at the fact that it didn't work out because we didn't take advantage of at-bats we had with runners in scoring position.
"You can sit here and second guess me, second guess the organization, second guess anybody."
Berrios entered the fourth inning after pitching a scoreless opening three innings, striking out five and only allowing three hits. He got to start the fourth, issuing a walk to Royce Lewis, who would come around to score, giving the Blue Jays' starter the loss in the game.
Kikuchi came into the game and allowed the next three hitters to reach base — one via walk and two by ground ball singles — before forcing a double play and groundout to end the inning. However, the damage had been done with two runs crossing the plate.
The Blue Jays made the move to Kikuchi as three of the next four Twins hitters were left-handed, opting for the southpaw over Berrios, who had been susceptible to off-handed matchups this season.
"You look at kind of overall body of work. You look at how unique their lineup is left- and right-handed. And you look at what we have in the bullpen, right-handed, especially versus their right-handed hitters," Schneider said of what the Blue Jays like in the Kikuchi matchup. "In a short three-game series, you're trying to utilize everyone the best that you can, and today didn't work out for us."
A common debate in today's game is whether to use the eye test or the numbers to make such important decisions in big situations.
"The way that the game is played today, there are a lot of numbers involved and a lot of opinions involved. And I think that not only us as an organization or me as a manager, us as a staff, we've showed throughout the course of the year that you trust people. It's not cut and dry every single day," Schneider said. "Whether that means a guy goes a complete game or goes six or seven innings as opposed to four or five.
"I think it gets torn apart a little bit when your season ends, but you have to try to take your best chance to win every single time as an organization."
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