Tuesday Bantering: Aaron Sanchez returns to 10-day DL

Aaron Sanchez was placed on the 10-day disabled list yesterday with a split right middle finger nail, which he suffered during his start on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays. In that start, Sanchez threw just 13 pitches, leaving the game after the first inning. With a corresponding move, the Blue Jays have recalled Danny Barnes from the Buffalo Bisons.

Sanchez, struggling from a blister on his right middle finger, was initially placed on the 10-day DL on April 16th. During his stint away from the team, Sanchez visited a hand specialist in Kansas City. He underwent surgery on his problematic finger to remove about a quarter of the nail, supposedly relieving pressure from his finger, preventing the redevelopment of a blister.

As Rob Longley reported on Sunday, Ryan Tepera will likely start in Sanchez’s place. Tepera (the first pitcher out of the bullpen in relief of Sanchez) pitched 3.1 innings — the longest outing of his career — against the Rays on Sunday, keeping Tampa Bay scoreless.

In that same game, Rays starter Chris Archer threw behind the back of Jose Bautista in apparent retaliation of a pitch from Joe Biagini that hit Steven Souza Jr. the day prior. Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, MLB officials are reviewing the incident with the potential of suspension.

“[Bautista’s] viewed as a villain, no doubt,” manager John Gibbons told reporters after the game. “I think that’s because he’s such a good player and burned so many teams.

“I would expect there has got to be some kind of suspension. They way they handle things now, the Machado thing the other day, the ball was thrown behind him. Now, if the umpire had not issued a warning, okay, maybe he didn’t think something was wrong. Since he issued a warning, maybe he [thought] ‘ahh, something’s not right here.’ If the umpire thinks something was issued for a reason, maybe he thought there was some intent and that’s why I would imagine the league would step up like they do most of the time.

“I would be disappointed if they didn’t.”

The Blue Jays won their third straight game last night, riding an offensive outburst from Ryan Goins at Yankee Stadium to win 7-1, their first blowout victory of the season. Marco Estrada, winning his first game of the season, threw seven innings, allowing just one run on seven hits and five strikeouts. He didn’t walk a batter.

Ryan Goins, in the seventh spot, only recorded one hit in the game, but totaled four RBIs. He homered in the second inning for two RBIs, then drove a ball to deep centre field in the sixth. Jacoby Ellsbury made a dazzling play, slamming against the wall, but was (obviously) shaken from the impact, allowing both Justin Smoak and Devon Travis to score.

Later, in the seventh, Jose Bautista hit his second home run of the season to make it 7-1.

Today, the Blue Jays look to win the series against the Yankees at 7:05 ET. Mat Latos, making his second appearance of the season, will start in place of J.A. Happ, who remains on the disabled list with elbow inflammation. The ever-dominant Masahiro Tanaka starts for the Yankees. You can watch the game on SNET-1 and MLB Network, or listen to it on SN590.

ESPN Sports Science broke down Chris Coghlan’s leap yesterday. The first 45 seconds of the video is stuff that Blue Jay fans should already know — the situation, who was involved, etc. The rest of the video, however, is pretty interesting. Give it a watch at the link above.

It makes me realize that I probably should have paid more attention in physics.

Andrew Munn over at Baseball Prospectus Toronto wrote about the odds that the Blue Jays face on making the postseason and some of the history behind the teams that have faced similar challenges. Five teams, Munn writes, have made the postseason after having their odds dip below 10% at some point during the season, all of which are fairly recent — presumably because the statistic used to measure playoff odds has only recently been invented.

Follow Mark Colley on Twitter: @MarkColley.