'Rubber-armed' Bassitt leads Blue Jays to win as late fill-in for Gausman

TORONTO – Chris Bassitt didn’t know he was going to start Saturday’s game until Friday afternoon. 

The intended plan was for the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander to toe the rubber on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres, however that changed once Kevin Gausman was scratched from his planned start on Saturday with left side discomfort. 

“The luxury of him is that he's kind of ready to go whenever,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Bassitt. “Rubber-armed and prepared.”

The team expected Bassitt to adjust, be unfazed and conduct business as usual. He certainly did that with a strong performance to lead the Blue Jays to a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 42,328 at Rogers Centre. 

“It was just ‘pound the strike zone’ and ‘trust your stuff,’” Bassitt said. “[The short notice] wasn't that big of a deal to me, it was more so just the preparation leading up to it was obviously not normal.” 

Bassitt was his usual crafty self, effectively mixing his seven pitches to keep Diamondbacks hitters off-balance. The right-hander allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings, walking none and striking out seven. He tossed 96 pitches and generated 10 whiffs on 49 swings. 

The 34-year-old, who signed a three-year, $63-million deal with the Blue Jays in the off-season, says he takes pride in being flexible for his manager and team.  

“I told them once they signed me, I was like, ‘Listen, whenever you want me to throw, I'll throw and I don't care how many pitches you need me to throw, I'll throw them,’” said Bassitt.

“Maybe that philosophy will not pay off one day. But today is not that day. So, we're good.”

The only damage against him came in the fourth inning, when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Emmanuel Rivera scored on a rather unorthodox, two-out infield hit. Second baseman Cavan Biggio made a sliding stop on a Jake McCarthy chopper and tossed the ball to first base, where Brandon Belt received it. However, the first baseman could not step on the bag before McCarthy reached. The play was called safe on the field and that ruling stood following a replay challenge by the Blue Jays. 

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen is arguably the best pitcher in the National League this season — a fact underlined by his selection as its starter in the All-Star Game. The right-hander entered Saturday with a 3.7 WAR, per FanGraphs, that ranked second in the majors behind Gausman (4.0), however Blue Jays hitters employed a patient approach against him, running up his pitch count early. 

The club loaded the bases on Gallen in the second inning with singles from Whit Merrifield and Alejandro Kirk and a walk from Biggio. That brought up George Springer, who worked an impressive at-bat, laying off some close pitches before lining a single to left field that drove in two runs. 

With the score knotted in the fourth inning, Merrifield opened the bottom of that frame with a solo home run off Gallen that just cleared the left-field wall and gave the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead. 

Gallen was done after the fifth, having allowed three runs on six hits, walking three and striking out five. 

“We made him work,” Merrifield said. “Didn't chase his stuff out of the zone early on. And I think that when you do that to a pitcher, it gets in their head a little bit like, ‘Oh man, I got to get the ball over the plate.’ And when he did that, we did enough to get three runs off him. Against a guy like that, that's a win.”

Bo Bichette tagged Diamondbacks reliever Scott McGough for a solo homer in the eighth inning, his 16^th homer of the season, while Merrifield added a sacrifice fly to offer the Blue Jays’ bullpen more insurance. 

The trio of Nate Pearson, Erik Swanson and Yimi Garcia each contributed an inning of scoreless relief, but of note was Schneider’s use of Garcia instead of closer Jordan Romano. The right-hander was not available on Saturday, Schneider said following the game, adding that Romano had an MRI on his back.

“No concern, it's just some mild, left low-back soreness,” said Schneider. “He's taking it day by day. We'll see how he is tomorrow. But, I thought the bullpen itself, I mean, all you can ask for right there.”

Gausman, meanwhile, began experiencing discomfort during his last outing, a July 8 start against the Tigers in Detroit. He was selected to the All-Star Game, but decided against going to Seattle to spend time with his family. Gausman underwent an MRI on Friday that showed “no real concerns,” according to Schneider. He’s also considered day to day. 

“He's just sore, so with the [return from the All-Star break], just being careful with it,” said the manager. “Starting pitcher for sure, whenever you're feeling something a little bit out of the ordinary, you want to just be careful. It's not like a specific move or pitch. Just trying to get the soreness out.”

Gausman has been the Blue Jays’ best pitcher this year and, one could argue, their most important player. That he could return in a few days is encouraging for the Blue Jays, whose lack of organizational pitching depth came into focus last month with the demotion of Alek Manoah. 

Manoah’s back with the club now, though, and Hyun Jin Ryu made a rehab start with triple-A Buffalo on Saturday night. It will be his third rehab outing and the 36-year-old left-hander, who underwent Tommy John surgery last June, was expected to throw about 65 pitches.

Should Gausman require a stint on the injured list, Ryu could in theory offer some protection for the Blue Jays’ rotation. However, that scenario will be discussed in the coming days.

In the meantime, the Blue Jays are happy with Bassitt, a steadying presence in the rotation whose 115.2 innings on the season are tied with Gausman for the team lead and place them fourth in the American League. 

“Couldn't ask for much more on a little bit of short notice,” Schneider said of Bassitt. “Really solid job by him. Total professional effort.”