Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada works against the Tampa Bay Rays during first inning MLB action in Toronto on Sunday.Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press
As everyone waits for Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos to make that trade for the competent starter his team so desperately needs, a homegrown solution for the mediocre bullpen is in sight.
Shortly after Marco Estrada (7-5) scattered three hits over eight innings Sunday for a 4-0 win that gave the Blue Jays the edge in a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays, their American League East Division rivals, Jays manager John Gibbons said Aaron Sanchez is expected to join the bullpen during the team's six-game trip. Sanchez will make a relief appearance for the Jays Triple-A Buffalo farm team on Tuesday "and then we'll see how it goes," Gibbons said.
Sanchez, 23, is expected to be called up later this week, toward the end of the Jays' series in Oakland against the Athletics. While it looked as though Sanchez would return to the starting rotation after returning from a lat-muscle injury, and that remains the long-term goal, that plan went out the window after the bullpen fell apart. Sanchez will be strictly a reliever for now because "we want to strengthen up that area," Gibbons said.
Gibbons also indicated Sanchez will share the closer's role with rookie Roberto Osuna. If Sanchez can duplicate his numbers as a rookie reliever last season – 2-2 with a 1.09 ERA in 33 innings with 27 strikeouts – then it will take a lot of pressure off Osuna and, in turn, the rest of the team and Anthopoulos.
Osuna, 20, is too young to be expected to carry the full load as a closer. With Sanchez to split the work and Bo Schultz to serve as the set-up man, then the bullpen that leads the majors with 15 blown saves suddenly has some depth.
Then there will be a lot fewer days such as Saturday, when relievers Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera coughed up home runs in the seventh and eighth innings against the Rays turning a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 loss. It also prevented a series sweep against a division rival. And maybe Anthopoulos's shopping list gets a little shorter and easier if just landing a starter becomes the main concern.
Speaking of starters, Estrada continued his work as a pleasant surprise on Sunday at Rogers Centre. The 32-year-old, who was assigned to the bullpen in spring training when it was decided Sanchez was ready to be a starter and then promoted in May when Daniel Norris faltered, won his fifth consecutive game. He also ran his runless innings streak against the Rays to 21, which was the second time this season Estrada blanked the Rays for at least eight innings.
"I don't know, I guess the changeup works a little better against them," Estrada said in explanation for his run against Tampa.
Unlike Rays starter Chris Archer, whose blazing fastball helped him bring a three-game winning streak against the Blue Jays into the game, Estrada relies on guile. He mixes a terrific changeup with a relatively pedestrian fastball (90 mph is about his top end) that is effective when he gets it in the upper half of the strike zone to produce fly balls.
"If I can locate the heater, kind of like I did [Sunday] where we elevated a lot, and throw a changeup off of that, things are going to go well," Estrada said. "I'm going to keep saying it, the defence was great. They made a lot of great plays, especially with the sun out there, the way it was [Sunday]. No one lost a ball, especially with all the fly balls I normally give up."
Also making a big contribution to the defence was catcher Dioner Navarro, who gave Russell Martin a rest. He made two important outs in the second and third innings, firing strikes from his knees to pick Rays first baseman James Loney off second base and Tim Beckham off third, respectively. Both outs ended the inning.
"That was huge," Estrada said. "You're out there, you're battling, you get a guy on third and he comes out of nowhere and throws a guy out."
The Jays offence was also there when it was needed, getting to Archer in the fifth inning to give Estrada a lead. After first baseman Justin Smoak singled, left fielder Chris Colabello hit his ninth home run of the season to put Toronto ahead 2-0. Jose Bautista hit his 19th homer of the season off Tampa reliever Brandon Gomes, a two-run shot in the eighth to provide the other Toronto runs.
That put the Jays back to .500 (47-47) to start their road trip and it was their first series win since late June against the Texas Rangers.