Blue Jays takeaways: This is the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Chatwood
Chatwood #Chatwood
The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 6-5 loss to Baltimore on Friday:
With a four-run lead going into the eighth against a team that hadn’t scored an earned run in its last 31 innings, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo went to Tyler Chatwood against the top of the Baltimore lineup.
After all, it seemed as though Chatwood was over his late-May and early-June hiccup, when he had three disastrous outings out of four. The right-hander had made eight consecutive appearances since without allowing a hit, never mind a run, walking just two, so he had more than earned his way back into Montoyo’s good books.
But that Chatwood wasn’t the one who showed up Friday night. He abandoned his four-seam fastball, which had served him very well in his shutout inning against the Marlins on Wednesday, and came out pumping sinkers — and missing with them.
Chatwood started leadoff man Cedric Mullins with two sinkers, both for balls, and wound up walking him. Freddy Galvis followed, and Chatwood’s first three pitches were sinkers. None of them were in the strike zone. He finally threw a four-seamer and missed with it, too, for a four-pitch walk.
Trey Mancini saw five cutters out of six pitches and struck out before Ryan Mountcastle grounded a 98-mph fastball up the middle for an RBI single to send Chatwood to the showers.
When Chatwood is good, he’s very, very good — an 0.36 ERA in 25 of his 29 appearances.
But when he’s been bad, it’s been awful. In his other four outings, including Friday’s, Chatwood’s ERA is 54.00.
The answer, simply, is because you can’t run your one reliable reliever into the ground in late June. If the Jays want Romano to be able to lift his right arm in mid-August, he can’t come rushing in to put out every fire.
Despite the fact that Chatwood let the tying run come to the plate, the Jays still had a three-run lead against the worst team in the league. Someone other than Romano has got to be able to get outs, otherwise the Jays are not going anywhere.
Friday, it was Saucedo’s turn to try. In a bullpen bereft of solid options, the southpaw hadn’t allowed a hit in the first two appearances of his career.
The Jays had already used Romano for six outs in Baltimore last week, something they just can’t keep doing. Even in the playoffs, when a manager can cut the bullpen down to only the most trusted relievers, you still need at least three.
Going to the same guy for every big out that’s needed is a recipe for an even bigger disaster than the Blue Jays’ bullpen currently is.
The 22-year-old also set a record for the most home runs in a single season by a Canadian-born Blue Jay.
Michael Saunders, of Victoria, B.C., held the previous mark of 24, set in his all-star 2016 season. It was his career high.
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Guerrero, born in Montreal while his Hall of Fame father was preparing for what would be the first of nine all-star seasons, isn’t even halfway through what will be his first all-star season and will no doubt add plenty of round-trippers to his newly-minted club record.
With 74 games in the books, the younger Guerrero is on pace to hit 55 home runs this season, which would eclipse Jose Bautista’s 2010 club record by one.
The current record for most home runs in a season by a Canadian big-leaguer belongs to Larry Walker. The Maple Ridge, B.C. native, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., this summer, hit 49 for the Colorado Rockies in 1997, when he was the National League MVP.
Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and the host of the baseball podcast Deep Left Field. Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness
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