3 Takeaways From Blue Jays' Loss to Yankees

Ross Stripling's changeup looked excellent; the Blue Jays aren't worried, and help is on the way.

© Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

TORONTO — Yimi García tried his best.

Five days since his last outing, the Blue Jays reliever had the difficult task of facing 4-5-6 in the Yankees lineup with the game tied in the top of the ninth.

With Toronto positioning its outfield nearly on the warning track, Giancarlo Stanton started things off with a crisp single. Tim Locastro replaced him a pinch runner, stole a base, then wound up scoring on a two-out Gleyber Torres single.

For García, it was his second shaky outing in a row. For the Blue Jays as a whole, though, there was a bit more to takeaway from the 3-2 loss on Monday.

Blue Jays aren't sweating

For a team that's been surprisingly ferocious in close games (9-2 record in one-run games this season), the Blue Jays seemed pretty carefree about their losing result.

"I don't think any of us are putting too much weight on this series," Blue Jays starter Ross Stripling said. "We went into Yankee Stadium and played a good four games set early, and now this is the first one here in the Rogers Centre."

Like Stripling said, the Blue Jays split a four-game series against the Yankees in April. Toronto knows it can hang with the division leaders, so the club isn’t treating these games with balls-to-wall intensity. 

Still, the Jays would've liked to see the offense wake up a little bit. It was another dull effort from Toronto—the Jays scored their only two runs in the fourth inning—but they were faced with some tough arms late in the game. 

"That's a good bullpen," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "That's why they're doing so well."

The Yankees are on a 10-game win streak, thanks in large part to their stellar bullpen which has contributed a league-leading 1.6 fWAR this year. 

Bottom line, the Blue Jays have survived a meat grinder of a schedule lately, and they aren't about to let a Game 1 loss or even a series loss mess with their mojo. 

Stripling goes changeup heavy

As a guy who’s never been classified as a full-time starting pitcher, Stripling sure boasts a starter’s arsenal. His fastball, while not spectacular in velocity, has been effective in his career, especially when he complements it with a sharp knuckle curve.

Lately, Stripling has leaned more on his changeup in tight situations—and he’s had much more success. With a man on in the third inning, Stripling kept feeding offspeeds to Aaron Judge. The hulking Yankees slugger never seemed to time it up, though, and he continuously fouled balls off.

Baseball Savant

Stripling was persistent, and when he uncorked another changeup on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Judge swung over it. 

It was remarkable how often Stripling used the pitch against right-handed hitters. Typically, his breaking stuff does the trick in those situations, but Stripling identified something in his pre-game meeting with pitching coach Pete Walker that suggested going changeup-heavy was the better call.  

"You start to see the actions and the swings as you're going through the outing and realize, 'Okay, I got a good idea where it's going. I'm keeping guys off balance to both righties and lefties,'" Stripling said. "So it just kind of snowballs in that way as you throw more [changeups]."

The value of Stripling’s changeup carried into the next hitter, too. Left-handed-hitting Anthony Rizzo, who carried an OPS above 1.000 into Monday, knew Stripling would load up on the changeup, so Stripling mixed in a few sliders. Rizzo looked caught off guard on those spinners, and he eventually got jammed on a flyout to left.

Out of the 63 pitches the right-hander threw on Monday, 26 were changeups. That 41% changeup usage was a subtle but effective adjustment that is worth following going forward.

Help is on the way

The Blue Jays have numerous players working back from injuries at the moment, and everyone is moving in the right direction.

Starting pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu (10-day IL, forearm) is scheduled to pitch for the Buffalo Bisons in a rehab outing on Saturday. Ryu told the Blue Jays he’s feeling good, but Toronto will gauge the results of the Triple A outing before deciding its next step. He’s a lock to re-join the rotation when he’s back, though it’s possible the Blue Jays “piggyback” some of Ryu’s outings with an opener.

Teoscar Hernández (10-day IL, oblique) has been out since April 14, and because of his long absence, he told Montoyo he needed some rehab at-bats. He’s in Dunedin, Fla., right now with the Blue Jays’ Low A affiliate and will get his reps beginning Tuesday or Wednesday with the goal of joining the major-league club for its weekend series in Cleveland.

Nate Pearson (10-day IL, mononucleosis) is in Toronto and scheduled to throw a bullpen Tuesday. He’s still not feeling 100%, but after being away for so long, he’s just happy to be around his teammates again.

“It's good to be up here and be around the guys,” Pearson told Inside The Blue Jays. “It's just a smile on my face when I get to see these guys, just talk to them.”

Pearson expects to head to Buffalo soon for some rehab starts as the Blue Jays build him back up to a starting pitcher’s workload.

Danny Jansen (oblique) is battling a more severe injury than Hernández’s. He’s been much slower to progress, but took batting practice for the first time since his injury Monday and also ran the bases.