Bullpen Struggles Weighing Blue Jays Down

The Blue Jays bullpen has gone from the team's strength to the weak point just 60 games into the season

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Tyler Chatwood tossed up four fingers as he tried to confirm the set of signs with catcher Reese McGuire.

Chatwood and McGuire were not on the same page, and the catcher’s stab to block the running fastball on the next pitch only confirmed it.

Chatwood was in Friday’s ballgame for just 11 pitches, but it was more than enough time to significantly raise heart rates and lower Toronto’s win expectancy. The Blue Jays got out of the bases-loaded jam with the lead, but two innings later Carl Edwards Jr. completed the blown save. It was the Blue Jays eighth BSv of the season, a crushing loss to a division rival, and the latest sign that Toronto’s current bullpen has not been good enough.

“I don’t know where we go from here,” Charlie Montoyo said. “Our guys in the bullpen need to do their job.”

Just two days ago Chatwood pitched a dominant scoreless inning against the White Sox. He was locating his cutter, allowed no batters on, and struck out one. After the game, Montoyo said he looked like the Chatwood we saw in early May — and he was right. But Friday’s blow up washed away any progress or built confidence.

“I don’t know where we go from here,” Montoyo said. “That was tough to see because he was so good, back to nasty Chatwood.”

Chatwood posted an infinite WHIP on the night, Christian Arroyo’s home run lifted Carl Edward Jr.’s ERA to 11.81, and Tim Mayza was Toronto’s only reliever Friday to complete an inning without allowing a run.

The Blue Jays had the best bullpen in the league at points this year. Chatwood was dealing, Dolis, Romano, Merryweather, and Borucki all had stretches of dominance, and the unit was the lone strength of the roster for the first few weeks of the season. Now it is an overused group, with limited options and poor results. Up 5-1, games like Friday’s are games winning teams win, Stripling said.

“This one especially hurts,” Stripling said.

In the bottom of the ninth, Dolis shook off Riley Adams. With the winning run on second he worked ahead of Alex Verdugo before allowing a fastball to drift over the heart of the plate. Verdugo turned on the ball and clanged it off the green monster to end the game. Dolis wasn’t charged with an earned run because of a Bo Bichette error on the play prior, but he was tagged with the loss.

Even one of the few reliable arms currently in Toronto’s pen couldn’t execute Friday night, and Dolis was one of the last options remaining. The Blue Jays need their bullpen to be better, but with Jordan Romano unavailable tonight with a forearm injury, in the short term it may just get worse.

“We don’t need to lose him, that’s for sure,” Montoyo said.