The Jays are winning with defence and a lockdown bullpen. Just like nobody expected

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This article was published 17/04/2022 (1298 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As they hit their first off-day of the season, the Blue Jays aren’t quite themselves.

The team that was built to mash the baseball to support an elite starting rotation has scored just 42 runs over its first 10 games — a per-game average that would have been third-worst in the American League last season. They’re hitting an ugly .160 as a team with runners in scoring position, and only one of their five regular starting pitchers has an ERA below 4.22.

And yet the Jays are first in the American League East at 6-4, on pace for 97 wins, on the strength of … a lockdown bullpen? And great defence?

That’s not a typo.

“We’ve picked up right where we left off,” said reliever Trevor Richards, who watched as bullpen mates Adam Cimber, Tim Mayza and Jordan Romano combined to hold the A’s to a run on two hits over three innings in Sunday’s rubber-match victory, 4-3.

Richards has never known the relief corps to be anything be terrific. He was acquired from Milwaukee last July, missing the horror show that was May and June of 2021 in the Jays bullpen.

“Our guys are doing it,” he continued. “We’re each doing the jobs we need to when we need to. We’ve got a good group down there.”

The high-leverage group — composed of David Phelps, Richards, Cimber, Mayza, newcomer Yimi García and the closer Romano — has combined to throw 28 1/3 innings over the first 10 games, allowing just five earned runs on 16 hits with 23 strikeouts.

That’s a 1.59 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .211 against those six pitchers combined, and if you take out the five-for-15 against Richards, who has only allowed one run so far, that number goes down to a minuscule .180.

“The bullpen’s been outstanding,” beamed manager Charlie Montoyo after Sunday’s one-run win.

Led by the local kid.

Romano, the Markhamaniac, closed out Sunday’s victory with a hitless ninth inning. He has saved every one of the Jays’ six wins this season, extending his club record to 29 consecutive save opportunities converted successfully.

“That’s a hell of a way to start off the year,” raved Richards. “I mean, six saves in what, a week (and a half)? That’s unbelievable. It’s good for everyone: for us, for him, for the whole team.”

Montoyo met Romano’s parents, Joe and Cynthia, in the bowels of the Rogers Centre after the game and thanked them for his relief ace.

“He’s just a great human being, a great teammate,” said the skipper, smiling ear to ear, “and of course, he’s a pretty good pitcher.

“His dad told me he gets nervous when (Romano’s) on the mound; I said I didn’t.”

And Montoyo has had no reason to. His closer hasn’t blown a save in 375 days, the last one coming April 8, 2021 against the Angels in Buffalo, when he gave up a game-tying single with two out in the seventh inning to the eventual American League MVP, Shohei Ohtani.

Cavan Biggio, still looking for his first hit of the young season but with a .294 on-base percentage in spite of that, marvels at the job the pitching staff has done so far.

“Having those guys pick us up when we’re not hitting well,” said Biggio, “especially (with runners in scoring position), it’s huge. It just makes us more of a complete team.”

That includes the defence.

Sunday, Biggio made a great diving catch in right field to keep the tying run from coming to the plate in the eighth inning. Santiago Espinal made a terrific play on a ball deflected by Alek Manoah to end the second. Bo Bichette has made multiple highlight-reel plays at shortstop and Matt Chapman has been his typical Hooverish self at third base.

“We’re catching every ball,” noted Montoyo. “We’re making good plays. We’re not giving the other team chances.”

“All around, our defence is getting better and better every single day,” agreed Biggio. “As hard as we work on our hitting, we work just as hard on our defence.”

There’s no doubt in any of their minds that the offence will come around to be as advertised, and the Jays are going to need it, heading into what might be the most difficult part of the schedule.

Their next 16 games are against the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Houston Astros, all playoff teams last season. Twenty-one of their next 25 are against those three plus the Tampa Bay Rays, who had the best record in the AL last year.

“It’s good to be winning (while we’re) not hitting,” said Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who singled and doubled in Sunday’s win, scoring twice and driving in another with a sacrifice fly. “When we start hitting, we might start winning more easily.”

“Look at our lineup,” marvelled Richards. “Up and down, it’s unbelievable, so it’s a matter of time.”

But while they wait, the Jays are having a good time having flipped the script, winning on the strength of their bullpen arms and their gloves.

Three things to know

Picket fence

The Jays scored a single run in each of the first three innings. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a first-inning sacrifice fly, Santiago Espinal singled in a Matt Chapman double in the second and Chapman scored Gurriel’s double with a third-inning single. It was the third game this season in which the Jays have scored in three consecutive innings.

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Manoah magic

Sensational sophomore Alek Manoah followed up six innings of one-hitter in his season debut in New York by taking a one-hit shutout into the fifth inning before allowing a solo home run to Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt. He gave up another run in the frame, but shut the door with a strikeout of Chad Pinder, then finished his day’s work with a perfect sixth to earn his second win in as many starts.

With a little help

The eventual winning run scored in the bottom of the sixth when, with Gurriel on first and none out, Chapman hit a ground ball to short. Former Jay Kevin Smith, part of the package traded for Chapman last month, made the play on his backhand but threw wildly to second trying to force Gurriel, who wound up scoring on the play. Smith was aboard as the tying run in the top of the ninth when Cristian Pache flied out to deep centre to end the game, Jordan Romano extending his team record by converting a 29th consecutive save opportunity.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness