Who’s Up, Who’s Down: Jays Pitchers

The Blue Jays were 7-6 over the past two weeks. Our pitchers had 4.28 ERA. Batters hit .261/.336/.401 against us.

UP

Marco Estrada: 3 starts. 2-0, 3.66 ERA. Batters hit .224/.263/.408 with 3 home runs, 4 walks and 25 strikeouts in 19.2 innings. He’s had one amazing start, one good start and one bad start. Really should be a ‘neither up nor down’, but the start against the Orioles was so good. His strikeouts are up, 27.2% up from 22.8 last year and 18.1 the year before and his walks are down 6.2% from 9.0 last year. He was an All-Star last year, and he’s better this year. His FIP is 3.28, down from 4.15. What’s Adam Lind doing these days? Actually pretty good, .333/.392/.622 with 3 home runs, as a part timer, for the Nationals.

Marcus Stroman: 2 starts. 1-0 (we won both games), 1.54 ERA. Batters hit .306/.346/.347 with 0 homers, 3 walks and 15 strikeouts in 11.2 innings. So he’s been giving up a lot of singles, but nothing else, only 2 extra base hits. Maybe he’s been lucky, well, no maybes, he has been lucky, but then he has been unlucky on ground ball finding their way through the infield. I thought that he was getting a number of double plays turned behind him, but there was just 1 over the past two games. He hasn’t been pitching deep into games, the way he was back in April.

Aaron Sanchez: 2 starts. 2.45 ERA. Batters hit .256/.333/.349, with 1 home run, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts in 11 innings. Really belongs on the ‘on the DL’ list. The Jays are saying it is a new blister, in a new spot, that has him on the DL this time. I’m thinking this is going to be the way the season goes for Aaron. Hopefully they come up with a plan for the future. When he’s pitching well, he might be my favorite to watch.

Roberto Osuna: Pitched in 5 games. Had a win and a save. 2.08 ERA, batters hit .267/.267/.333, gave up 4 hits, 1 double, 0 walks with 3 strikeouts. Of course, maybe his defining moment of the last week was him warming up before the rain delay against the Orioles. It was a tough spot. He would have started warming before the rain started, and, even when it was raining pretty hard, he would have needed to keep going in case the game wasn’t called. I would like Gibby to use him for more than an inning at a time.

Ryan Tepera: Pitched in 7 games. He had a win and a hold. He had a 0 ERA. Batters hit .069/.231/.069 with no extra base hits, no walks and 9 strikeouts in 9.1 innings. He’s been terrific. Gibby seems to be using him kind of in tandem with Danny Barnes, picking spots where, he feels, Ryan’s fastball will be more effective than Barnes’ changeup. So far, this season, batters have a .498 OPS against him.

Down

Aaron Loup: Pitched in 7 games. Had 1 hold. 9.82 ERA. Batters hit .333/.474/.600 with 1 home run, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts and 3 hit batters in 3.2 innings. He faced 19 batters and hit 3 of them. If he was a starter, and he hit batters at that rate, he’d have over 100 hit batters in a season. He did have a couple of appearances where he didn’t hit a batter. He’s been terrible. Why do we have so much trouble getting a decent lefty reliever?

Mike Bolsinger: He made 3 starts. 0-2, 6.32 ERA. Batters hit .279/.408/.426 with 2 home runs, 11 walks and 12 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. One of the starts was fairly ok, 5.2 innings with 2 earned, 3 hits, 4 walks. The other two were about what you would expect from a Bolsinger start. He’s averaged about 5 innings per start, in part because Gibby needed him to get a few innings.

Dominic Leone: Appeared in 6 games. Had a win. 3.86 ERA. Batters hit .182/.296/.455 with 3 doubles and 1 home run, 4 walks and 6 strikeouts in 7 innings. He hasn’t been terrible. He only gave up 4 hits, but they were all extra base hits. Kind of a marginal down arrow.

Joe Biagini: 2 starts. 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA. Batters hit .200/.243/.343. He allowed 2 doubles, 1 home run, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts (he made an error, so there was 1 unearned run that he really earned for himself). Really he only had the one bad inning, so kind of unfair that he gets put in the down pile, but when the one inning is that bad.....He really had been great as a starter.

Danny Barnes: 6 appearances. Had a hold, a blown save and 2 losses. 4.05 ERA. Batters hit .379/.400/.586 with 11 hits, 2 home runs, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts in 6.2 innings. He’s having a rough time of it, lately. I’m hoping the little rough stretch ends soon. He throws strikes, but too many of them have been hit of late.

Jason Grilli: 6 appearances. 1 loss. 4.15 ERA. Batters hit .316/.316/.526, with 1 double, 1 home run, 0 walks and 5 strikeouts. Ummmm he’s throwing strikes. Or at least, he’s throwing enough meatballs that batters won’t wait around for a base on balls. He has been better of late, his last 3 appearances included 2 clean innings.

J.P. Howell: 3 appearances. 9.00 ERA. Batters hit .400/.538/.600, with 2 doubles, 3 walks and no strikeouts. Yeah he’s been terrible. I liked the signing.....I was wrong. It isn’t the first time.

Neither Up nor Down

Joe Smith: Pitched in 6 games. Had 2 holds. Had a 3.60 ERA, batter hit .278/.381/.278 against him, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, 1 hit batter in 5 innings. He only gave up earned runs in one appearance, but he gave up base runners in all but 1 appearance. He’s taken Grilli’s role as 8th inning guy. He’s been much better than I expected.

On the DL

Francisco Liriano: He made the one start, 2 innings, in the game he left to go on the DL. He’s to throw a ‘bullpen’ session tomorrow and then, all going well, he should be off to make a rehab start or two.

J.A. Happ: He threw 3.2 innings in an extended spring game Saturday. All going well, he’ll have one or two more rehab starts before rejoining the team. We really could use him.

Also Pitched

Leonel Campos: 3 games. 5.40 ERA. Batters hit .286/.412/.643, with 2 doubles and 1 home run, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. He’s back in Buffalo. I’m sure we’ll see him again.

Cesar Valdez: Pitched an inning. Got 3 outs (all 3 were fly outs) and gave up a walk.