Blue Jays bullpen trying to stay ready with Scherzer, Francis still out for now

TORONTO – Every five games the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen has had to step up. 

Sometimes it works, and sometimes, like Toronto’s 7-1 loss to the lowly Chicago White Sox on Friday, it does not. Spencer Turnbull, who served as the so-called opener in the bullpen day, said it’s been a team-first mentality for his fellow relievers.

“It’s a stay ready, next man up kind of thing,” said Turnbull (1-1) after giving up four runs on five hits and two walks over two innings. “Everybody’s pulling their own weight. We all want to win. We want to do whatever we can to contribute.

“Just being able to stay flexible and be able to do whatever is needed. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do my job tonight, and I’ll flush that one but hopefully, I’m sure moving forward, it’ll be better.”

It was a double bullpen game, with both teams trotting out a handful of relief pitchers with no starters available.

Mason Fluharty followed Turnbull to the mound for the Blue Jays (40-35). He gave up three runs on two hits and two walks, before Braydon Fisher, Nick Sandlin, Chad Green, Brendon Little and Jeff Hoffman combined for six scoreless innings.

Toronto’s bullpen entered the game with a 3.61 earned-run average, 11th-best in Major League Baseball and seventh in the American League. 

“I thought they did a good job from the fourth inning on,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “(Fisher) was great, giving us two innings there and I think everyone did their part in a game like that. 

“But you want to try to avoid that, for sure. It’s a fine line between planning for the next day and trying to keep the game that you’re competing in at bay.”

Grant Taylor pitched one scoreless inning for the White Sox (23-53) before giving way to long reliever Tyler Alexander (4-7), who worked four without giving up a run. Dan Altavilla, Wikelman Gonzalez and Tyler Gilbert also came out of the visitors bullpen at Rogers Centre, with Gonzalez allowing a run.

The Blue Jays have had to rely on relievers with veteran pitcher Max Scherzer (thumb) on the injured list since his first start of the season. Eric Lauer (3-1) began to get starts instead of Schneider doing bullpen days, but then Bowden Francis (shoulder) was put on the IL on June 15.

Relievers have started 13 games for Toronto so far this season.

Scherzer had a bullpen session scheduled for Saturday after two promising rehab starts with triple-A Buffalo. It appears that the surefire Hall of Famer will likely start against the Cleveland Guardians at some point next week.

Turnbull said he’s not sure what his role will be when Scherzer comes back.

“We haven’t really had a ton of discussions about that,” he said. “I’m just trying to stay flexible and just do whatever they ask. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team. 

“If Scherzer’s ready to come back, that’s awesome. He’s one of the best ever to do it, so he’ll help the team a lot when he gets up here.”

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Francis (2-8) had a cortisone injection on Tuesday and will continue to rest.

Jose Berrios (2-3) gets the start on Saturday afternoon as Toronto continues its three-game series against the White Sox. Chicago will counter with Aaron Civale (1-3).

Schneider said that Fisher and Sandlin likely won’t be available in Saturday’s game, but the rest of Toronto’s bullpen should be good to go.

“I think you can be aggressive in games like today when you have Jose and (Sunday starter Chris Bassitt) going before an off day,” said Schneider. “We’re going to rely on those guys to do their part.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025.