Blue Jays bullpen off to strong start in 2018

TORONTO — Marcus Stroman was debriefing his first outing of 2018 Sunday evening in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse. Felt good, stuff was where it needs to be, great at-bat by Justin Smoak — the usual.

But then, in the midst of talking about the challenge of facing the New York Yankees and their weapons-grade lineup, he suddenly halted his train of thought and pivoted.

“I just want to throw a shout-out to our bullpen,” Stroman said, unprompted. “Our bullpen was unbelievable over the last few days. And today it was great again. I love every guy we have at the back end. I have the utmost confidence in every guy back there. And I think those guys are going to prove and show what they can do.”

He’s right. The Blue Jays bullpen hasn’t been touched since allowing three runs in Toronto’s opening-day loss, holding the Yankees scoreless over 9.1 innings, surrendering only two hits and four walks while striking out 10.

Yes, it’s only three games. These results aren’t predictive — we all understand this. But it is pretty remarkable to see how strong Toronto’s bullpen was in this series, particularly compared to New York’s, which is considered one of the best in baseball.

Battle of the bullpens

	IP	ER	H	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Blue Jays	13.2	3	9	5	14	1.98	1.024
Yankees	13.1	11	12	5	19	7.43	1.275

 

It’s been a collaborative effort. All seven Blue Jays relievers have pitched at least an inning, and six have taken the mound twice. Tyler Clippard leads the way with three innings.

“I like our bullpen a lot,” Clippard said. “We have a lot of different looks. Guys that throw strikes, guys that know what they’re doing out there, guys with experience — all those things.

“And it’s important to get off to that good start, gain the confidence early, build on that. Obviously, that Yankees team is formidable top to bottom. And I think we did a pretty good job.”

Clippard, signed to a minor-league deal midway through spring training, earned a spot in Toronto’s bullpen with a solid and busy Grapefruit League showing, pitching seven times in a little more than two weeks.

He put up zeros in five of those outings, and demonstrated some important adjustments he began working on late last season that he hopes will help him improve on a rocky 2017.

Through his first three outings of the year, in which he’s struck out four and allowed only one hit (a solo shot to Giancarlo Stanton), Clippard feels he’s carrying over his improved mechanics and getting closer to where he was earlier in his career when he was one of the top relievers in the game.

So far, he’s thrown 61 per cent for his pitches for strikes, and earned nine swinging strikes, which is impressive considering his 91-m.p.h. fastball is far from overpowering.

“It’s a constant process. That’s what’s fun about this game,” he said. “Friday’s outing was very encouraging for me. And [Sunday’s] was even more. I’m getting the swings and misses on some high fastballs. And hitters are reacting to my change-up like I want them to. To see those things out in the game is very encouraging. Everything’s where I want it to be right now.”

In the closer’s role, Roberto Osuna has looked like his dominant self, retiring all six batters he’s faced over two outings. Most importantly, he’s back to averaging 96 m.p.h. with his fastball, after suffering a slight velocity dip in 2017.

After pitching on back-to-back days, Osuna wasn’t available to close Sunday’s game, which provided an opportunity for Seung-hwan Oh to notch the 40th save of his MLB career. The 35-year-old allowed a soft single to Aaron Judge and nothing more, filling the zone with strikes as he mixed and matched with his 92-m.p.h. fastball and 83-m.p.h. slider.

Oh pitched just twice during spring training, including a rough outing against the St. Louis Cardinals in Montreal right before the Blue Jays broke camp, which gave the club some concern coming into the regular season. But Oh’s showed no signs of trouble in his two outings since, pitching confidently and aggressively, throwing 21 of his 28 pitches for strikes, six of them swinging.

“He’s looked very good,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He basically didn’t have a spring training. So, we were a little worried about that.

“But he’s a cool customer. You know he’s going to throw strikes, whatever he throws up there. He’s a tough at-bat.”

Then there’s John Axford. He took the mound Sunday and showed exactly how he earned a spot on the Blue Jays roster out of spring training, after signing a minor-league deal this off-season following a two-month sabbatical from the game at the end of 2017.

Pitching on his 35th birthday in front of his parents, Vera and Brian, and his two sons, JB and Jameson, Axford leaned heavily on his two-seam fastball, like this 97-m.p.h. hammer to Brett Gardner that earned Axford his second strikeout of the season:

The two-seamer is still a newish pitch for Axford, who started throwing it in 2016, after toying with it in bullpens for years while relying primarily on a four-seamer in games. Although it featured big-time movement throughout spring, there are still improvements to make. Every so often one won’t move the way he wants, like the two-seamer Stanton doubled off of in Toronto’s opener.

“Yeah, I wish I would’ve had that big movement I had to Gardner to Stanton the other day. That was one of the only two-seamers I’ve thrown that only moved a little bit,” Axford said. “But it’s something that has been working in spring, something I want to continue to carry over this season. And it seems like it is. I just have to refine it. Make sure that I’m throwing strikes with it, and getting ground balls with it.”

Axford got plenty of ground-ball contact with the pitch during spring — 10 of his 24 outs came on the ground — while striking out 11 over eight innings. Now, he’s working to hone his ability to start the pitch from different locations while throwing it to both sides of the plate. That should help Axford mess with the sightlines of hitters, and make the pitch effective against both right- and left-handed batters.

“Like Gardner, for example. Being able to start that ball in and off of him and having it work back over,” Axford said. “And same with the opposite side. If I’m going on the arm side, being able to maybe start something middle and let it run. Or even if I’m trying to get it off the plate.”

And we haven’t even mentioned Danny Barnes, who looks headed for a workhorse role after appearing in three of Toronto’s four games. And Ryan Tepera, who’s allowed only a walk over his two innings while ramping his fastball up to 96 m.p.h. And Aaron Loup, the lefty specialist who’s been needed for only an inning thus far, working a clean frame in Toronto’s opener.

Solid starting pitching and Smoak’s bat were the obvious driving factors behind Toronto’s two wins this weekend. But Stroman’s right. The bullpen’s contributions shouldn’t be overlooked. Particularly against a lineup most are picking to win the AL East.

“Seeing this series and the way we came back after losing the first two,” Axford said, “I think that’s a sign of really great things to come.”