Roark can’t solve struggles, allows 4 homers

One week after Tanner Roark compared himself to a diesel engine, feeling he wasn’t given the opportunity to pitch deep into games, the Yankees took him for a series of long drives. With four home runs allowed in four innings at Yankee Stadium and an ERA that now sits at

One week after Tanner Roark compared himself to a diesel engine, feeling he wasn’t given the opportunity to pitch deep into games, the Yankees took him for a series of long drives.

With four home runs allowed in four innings at Yankee Stadium and an ERA that now sits at 6.41, Roark is looking for answers and September’s clock is ticking. Wednesday’s 13-2 loss to the Yankees fresh off of Tuesday’s 20-6 loss is cause for serious concern, but on a smaller scale, Roark and the Blue Jays need to find a way for him to contribute in the postseason with several factors working against them.

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Roark signed a two-year, $24 million deal with the Blue Jays this past offseason to eat innings and stabilize the rotation, but it’s been a rough ride in a season that hasn’t exactly lent itself to that. Toronto’s approach to pitching has kept its entire starting rotation from touching the seventh inning or 100 pitches, which is counterintuitive to Roark’s style and was at the heart of his discontent last time out, when he also lasted just four innings.

For now, Roark feels he needs to establish one pitch, the fastball down and away from opposing hitters.

“If I get that going, then everything else works off of that,” Roark said. “I think I didn’t really establish anything tonight. I tried to, but it wasn’t there. The curveball was good and changeup was good at times, but establishing that fastball for me is what really is my bread and butter. If I don’t do that down and away, then I really have nothing to work off of.”

If Roark won’t be grinding through 7 2/3 innings on 114 pitches, then how does his style fit within the Blue Jays’ strategy come October?

With two starts remaining in the regular season, Roark does still have an opening to right the ship. Without scheduled off-days this postseason until the World Series, teams in the Division Series and League Championship Series will need to go four or five deep into their rotation, putting an emphasis on depth over a great No. 1 and No. 2 who can circle back for multiple appearances. Toronto’s “rotation,” which rarely fits the traditional definition of that word, might still have room for that.

In that scenario, though, Roark would still likely be pitching in a three- to four-inning role, and he hasn’t conquered lineups the first time through, either. Home runs have been a major issue for Roark, with 14 in 39 1/3 innings, and so have walks, which makes for a dangerous pairing and complicates this even further.

“It’s crunch time now,” Roark said. “There’s no excuses now. You’ve got to give 100% every time you go out there. No excuses.”

Manager Charlie Montoyo and the Blue Jays could plan to slide Roark into a “bulk” role, a broad term that applies to so many pitchers on this roster now, including even Robbie Ray and Ross Stripling — both flexible arms who are starting games. It also covers Thomas Hatch, Julian Merryweather, Ryan Borucki and others down in the bullpen, who have done so well at bridging the gap between the Blue Jays’ short starts and their back-end arms. That group could soon include No. 1 prospect Nate Pearson, too.

“We’ll see what happens,” Montoyo said, leaving the door open to his seemingly countless potential ways to put this puzzle together. “He’s got another start. We’ll see how it goes and then we’ll go from there.”

Roark’s home run and walk rates would be difficult to trust in high-leverage spots, though, as they stand today, and come October, nearly every pitch thrown is high-leverage.

Now an eight-year veteran, Roark has pitched in the postseason in 2014 and ‘16, both times in the National League Division Series as a member of the Nationals. His first trip saw him come out of the bullpen twice, then he made his lone postseason start in 2016, throwing 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball with seven hits allowed against the Dodgers.

Keegan Matheson is a reporter/editor for MLB.com based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter @KeeganMatheson.