TORONTO – Initially, the cramping sensation that forced Dylan Cease onto the injured list a couple of weeks ago was mild enough that the Toronto Blue Jays ace felt he could keep pitching. He gave it 30 seconds, made another throw, still felt the twinge, but figured it would go away. Two more pitches followed and not only did it not go away, it started getting worse.
“It was pretty apparent every time I was landing it was going to grab and then it became harder to trust,” Cease recalled. “And at that point, I was yanking. I couldn’t pitch like that, not enough trust in my body. I had to come out.”
A minimum stay on the injured list and one rehab outing restored Cease’s trust in his body, and he was his usual dominant self Tuesday night, getting an astounding 29 whiffs while striking out 11 over six innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The only damage against him came in the first, when Brandon Marsh’s two-out double cashed in Trea Turner, and he allowed only a single in the fourth and a walk in the sixth to Bryce Harper the rest of the way. Zack Wheeler similarly stymied the Blue Jays over his six frames, burned only by Jesus Sanchez’s solo shot in the sixth that tied the game 1-1.
Things didn’t settle until the bottom of the ninth, when Sanchez opened the inning with a single off Jhoan Duran, Yohendrick Pinango followed with a hit-and-run chopper that put runners on the corners, pinch-runner Daulton Varsho stole second, a wild pitch brought in the tying run and Brandon Valenzuela’s single to left won it, as a crowd of 41,079 exploded.
That rally came after the Phillies went up 2-1 in the top half of the frame as Harper worked a leadoff walk off Louis Varland and scored as Bryson Stott slashed a two-out double to left.
Cease’s return, which is to be followed by Max Scherzer’s activation from the IL ahead of Wednesday’s series finale, restored some normalcy to the Blue Jays’ pitching staff, which spent the past two weeks running two bullpen days through each rotation turn.
That exacted a high toll on the relief corps – Mason Fluharty leads the majors in appearances, Braydon Fisher is third while Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Rogers and Louis Varland are also in the top 10 – and the unsustainability of that workload made getting back to a proper five-man essential.
Still, the scars of the ongoing roster churn the Blue Jays have faced since Cody Ponce blew out his knee in the fourth game of the season were evident in the decision to option lefty Adam Macko, who on merit deserved to stay, to open up a spot for Cease. That kept the recently acquired Simeon Woods Richardson and Connor Seabold – both out of options – in play for another day, with another move for Scherzer looming. A third move, possibly as soon as Friday, is coming for Alejandro Kirk, as well, with asset management factoring into the mix.
The scope of pitching injuries this season “definitely has affected decision-making,” manager John Schneider conceded. “There’s still some uncertainty when guys are coming back from injuries. When Kirk gets back, or Dylan or Max, it’s not just going to be an automatic OK, here we go, it’s going to be perfect. With other moves that we’ve made and with guys that we have available for certain roles, especially length, you want to try to maximize that. And this year has definitely shown that. Getting guys back will be good. You have to let them get their feet underneath them a little bit. Then you probably have to make another decision.”
Another decision the Blue Jays made Tuesday was to bat Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leadoff on an off-day for George Springer, seeking “to shake things up for him a little bit and see how it goes.”
Guerrero ended up 1-for-4 with a leadoff single in the third that ended an 0-for-15 slide.
