The Blue Jays couldn’t ask for any more from their pitching staff. But they’ll have to

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This article was published 19/04/2021 (1667 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Don’t look now but the Blue Jays have the best ERA in the American League.

Yes, those Blue Jays. The team projected to be an offensive juggernaut with a questionable pitching staff. The one that raised eyebrows when it didn’t complement its free spending on the position-player side with at least another starting pitcher or two.

The sample size is small, the schedule still isn’t even three weeks old, but few would have predicted this early-season script. Despite having eight pitchers on the injured list, their 3.07 ERA is better than the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees or any of the other vaulted AL staffs.

Is it sustainable? Probably not, but the depth and hot starts from a slew of arms have gone a long way in helping the Jays stay afloat while they wait for the bats to heat up. They will enter Tuesday’s series opener in Boston with a 7-9 record. Not great, but a situation that could have been a lot worse considering the injuries.

“We’re hanging in there just because of the way they’ve pitched,” said manager Charlie Montoyo, whose team has been without George Springer (injured) and Teoscar Hernandez (COVID list) while ranking 18th in the majors with 4.12 runs per game. “They’ve done a great job to keep us in every game.”

Regression seems inevitable. The pitching isn’t going to stay this efficient forever, but there are ways to mitigate the decline. With four off-days scheduled over the next two weeks, the Jays can avoid using a fifth starter until May 4 while providing plenty of rest to the league’s top performing bullpen.

Shortening the rotation is key because the front end of the staff has been doing most of the heavy lifting. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Steven Matz and Robbie Ray have combined to post a 1.71 ERA across eight outings. The rest of the rotation, which includes six other pitchers, has a 7.62 ERA over the same number. If there’s a complaint to be made about the club’s lack of pitching adds, this is where it should be directed.

Prioritizing the top three to maximize efficiency is doable in the short term because of the off-days. Anthony Kay likely will be the only other starter required until early May, which gives the team more time for its injured pitchers to heal. Even if Nate Pearson — who is scheduled to throw live batting practice on Tuesday — isn’t ready to go by then, he should at least be close.

Ryu has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his three starts. Matz is one of just four pitchers in franchise history to post a sub-1.50 ERA in his first three games with the team, joining Mauro Gozzo in 1989 (1.35 ERA), Roger Clemens in 1997 (0.42 ERA) and Matt Shoemaker in 2019 (0.92 ERA). Ray walked the world in his last start and yet he has allowed just two earned runs in his 10 innings of work.

The coaching staff can’t ask for much more than that, especially from a rotation that was projected to lack front-line talent.

“Those three guys at the top definitely set the tone,” pitching coach Pete Walker said. “I think with Ryu getting off to a good start, Matz getting off to a good start, Ray throwing well now — obviously he had a great spring, (and) we expect him to continue to throw well. Those guys will feed off each other.

“Then we hope that we can get a couple of other guys to step in and fall right in line there. When you have some stabilization at the top of the rotation, it sets things up better … It just gives us some opportunities to use guys out of the bullpen in spots where we really want to use them, and not putting them in spots that we wouldn’t necessarily use them.”

With the rotation living up to its end of the bargain, the bullpen has managed to thrive. No Kirby Yates, no Julian Merryweather, no Jordan Romano, no Tyler Chatwood — no problem. Jays relievers still rank first in the majors with a 2.24 ERA while assuming the sixth-highest workload.

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The performance will eventually dip if the injury situation doesn’t improve, but depth has stopped that from happening so far. Tim Mayza has yet to surrender an earned run. Ryan Borucki stepped into a high-leverage role. Rafael Dolis is walking almost a batter an inning but gets out of almost every jam. Anthony Castro and Joel Payamps didn’t even make the team out of camp and have already proven useful.

There are limits, of course. Saturday’s doubleheader against the Royals took its toll and left the Jays with a limited number of relievers available for the series finale. Not too many games are going to be won when T.J. Zeuch and Tanner Roark are called upon in the late innings with a tight score, but those things happen over 162. Sometimes teams are forced to sacrifice today for a better tomorrow.

In almost any other year in recent memory, the number of injuries to this team would have been devastating. Entire seasons have been erased by much less, but this group has managed to keep it together because of its pitching staff.

Pearson, Romano and others will have to return in top form for the Jays to have any shot at sustaining their success from the mound, but a lucky break in the schedule means this team should be able to keep its head above water for at least another couple weeks. The rest will be up to the reinforcements.

Gregor Chisholm is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @GregorChisholm or reach him via email: gchisholm@thestar.ca