TORONTO – The baseball season is in a sense associated with the management of an ever-changing series of small fires. For starters, maybe the violation is not a click. Just when this happens, the rotation erupts. Then comes the bullpen, which serves only to re-ignite the starters. Continuing and continuing, teams move from one crisis to another until only the deepest clubs remain in power.
In the last few weeks, during which they split four games with the Baltimore Orioles, before missing three consecutive series of struggling clubs, the Toronto Blue Jays coped with a number of outbursts. Hyun Jin Ryu’s operation to end the season. The struggles of Yusei Kikuchi and, more surprisingly, Jose Berios. Danny Jansen’s prolonged absence. George Springer’s elbow. A series of injuries to the bullpen. Seemingly daily use of relief from Buffalo to Toronto.
It was a lot that made Kevin Gaussman’s seven home innings plus the home runs of Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Chapman in the Boston Red Sox’s 7-2 opening opening on Monday an ideal way to put out the recent embers.
While by no means decisive for the season, the current eight-game home game against the rising Red Sox, who have won seven consecutive entries, and the Tampa Bay Race will either stifle the fire or increase the heat.
The taxed and under-personalized visor needed Gaussman to deepen after successive blows from Kikuchi and Berios and right-sleeved aces that yielded both quality and quantity. He withdrew from the first eight beats he faced, grabbed the game by the throat and dropped it from his grip until the offense struck Connor Seabold.
“Huge,” said manager Charlie Montoyu about how Gaussman’s release prepares the team for the rest of the hosts. “Who knows what will happen in the next few days, so it’s huge and even more so what happened in the series before, how the bullpen had to do so much inning. Such a great start from Gaussman to give us seven innings, knowing what lies ahead. ”
RBI’s Bo Bichette’s double gave things a head start in the first, Springer’s solo kick, followed by two runs by Guerrero in the third, opened the scoring while Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s scoring goal in front of Chapman Homer took the game out of reach. .
Taken together, these efforts made this one of the lowest-stress games the Blue Jays have enjoyed this season, while easing worries about Gaussman, who appears to have emerged after a brief drop in form.
“We got out of a tough road and then faced a hot team from Boston, so to jump here in Game 1, to do a few runs, to play well, to play good defense, that definitely sets the tone for the hosts,” Chapman said. “Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do. It will be a difficult period, but we are certainly excited about the way we started. “
Gaussman conceded just four goals and two walks until he fired 10, beating the Red Sox for the third time this year after giving up just one winning streak in 21 innings against them.
This release may be the most impressive, given how the Red Sox have recovered from a slow start. They are 32-13 from May 10 and dropped to 19-5 in June.
“We didn’t do much offense in the first month,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said before the game. “We were chasing playgrounds. We faced a good performance. And (Gaussman) was a big part of us fighting. He was really good in consecutive starts, one in Fenway, one here. But now we are inflicting damage on the impact zone. We didn’t do it in April. We still swing, but we don’t chase too many pitches. … We were able to control the bats and do a better job. ”
Gaussman was, too, and despite all the talk about whether the tip and the Blue Jays are moving too far behind him (they did it regularly on Mondays), it’s a controversial conversation where he can move his fast ball and then knock out the split. . He received 10 breaths with his heater, which was 95, seven on the twine and another on his slider.
He received 10 breaths with his heater, which sat 95, seven on the twine and another on his slider, which brought him five called blows.
“My slider was a huge role for me, especially when the boys retire from Split,” Gaussman said. “A lot of right-handers in the last two teams I’ve faced, so a few more sliders than normal and had some big outs on them. This is a terrain that gets better as the season progresses. Honestly, at the moment I feel confident that I throw it at everyone in every situation. Some guys I know need to be a little finer when I throw it. But at the moment I’m super confident in this field. “
He also gave a breath of fresh air to the bullpen before Ross Stripling came out on Tuesday, with Alec Manoah ready for the series’ final on Wednesday. Kikuchi is then scheduled to start the series against the Rays, which includes a double Saturday that limits the club’s capabilities.
Montoyo said Kikuchi would start this for now, but added that nothing was carved in stone. The left-hander, who has struggled to control his fast ball in recent outings, “made a flat ground (work on Sunday) and Pete (Walker, the coaching coach) said he felt good about it,” Montoyo said. “We will see.”
There is less concern for Berios, who has longer experience and is at least constantly in the zone, but he was not the expected post for stability so far.
Between the extra work and the discharge from the injury, the bullpen has been under pressure for the past few weeks, so they are close to a deal to sign recently released veteran Sergio Romo.
The Blue Jays rely on his experience and competitiveness in the absence of the Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards crews, along with depths Julian Merriweather, Taylor Sosedo and Andrew Vazquez. Nate Pearson (shoulder), who is expected to consider some form, remains off the table as an option.
At 39, Romo’s best days are long gone, but the team is at low risk that his mix of mostly 85.4 mph on the sink and 77.6 mph on the slider is enough to compete and that he will be positive as a teammate.
If he can help bridge the gap and record a few outs from the fifth or sixth inning in the coming days, that’s a bonus. And if not, it won’t cost them much.
Jansen, meanwhile, continued to make progress in recovering from a fifth metacarpal fracture of his left arm, standing behind Richards’ live bull, exercising, grabbing several pitchers on level ground, and then receiving from the speed machine.
His return is on the horizon.
“Obviously, I want to make sure that when I return, I will not fight, so I want to be sure that I will take some time. But in this regard, the trend is up and today was the best day, “he said. “I do not think I am far away. I don’t know the time frame and I definitely have to do something about rehabilitation and make sure I’m right, the time and everything. It definitely itches me to come back and I’m excited about it. But I think it’s pretty close. “
Apart from Alejandro Kirk, especially Gabriel Moreno, they performed in his absence, the game and the presence of Jansen were greatly missed. He tried to find ways to be sharp by attending pitcher meetings before the game and giving himself to his fellow defenders, although “it’s hard to be eliminated because I’m not in a fight with them.”
Soon enough, Jansen and others will be, and once they are, other small fires will appear elsewhere, because that’s how baseball works. The key is to keep finding ways to put them out, while preparing for the inevitable outbreaks that will follow.
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