Perhaps the sky isn’t falling for the Toronto Blue Jays after all.
With the team mired in a tough stretch that has included injuries, poor play, a mystery illness, and now a broken plane, the Blue Jays have put together two of their most complete performances of the season in back-to-back days as they inch closer to the .500 mark before the end of April.
One of those games included an eight-run offensive explosion to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, with the other coming on Monday night to begin a series with the Los Angeles Angels.
Whether it was the dominant starting pitching, timely hitting, contributions from off the bench, or an lights-out showing from the bullpen, the scrappy 5-2 victory over the Angels was much more reminiscent of the Blue Jays from last season as this year’s edition of the team searches for their identity.
Maybe the most welcome sign from Monday’s win was the bounce-back performance of Jeff Hoffman, who struck out three batters and locked down the save for just Toronto’s fifth win in the month of April.
Hoffman’s season has not gotten off to a good start with the veteran reliever blowing three of his six save opportunities and currently holding a 6.97 earned run average in just 10 1/3 innings pitched.
Things came to a head this weekend in the desert when Hoffman was summoned from the bullpen in the eighth inning of a tied ballgame. He would give up a pair of singles to the bottom of the Diamondbacks lineup and walk Ketel Marte to load the bases, before serving up a grand slam to Corbin Carroll to blow the game wide open – all before recording a single out.
After the game, manager John Schneider came to the defence of Hoffman, reaffirming his “trust and confidence” in his closer despite the poor results of late, and of course, his blown save in Game 7 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Monday, Schneider was once again given the opportunity to show his faith in Hoffman as the team’s closer, and was repaid with a scoreless ninth inning.
“They’re kind of at the point where - and I saw John’s quotes about the whole situation - that’s the team’s best option right now,” ESPN’s Buster Olney said on TSN1050’s First Up Tuesday morning. “He may not necessarily be great at that job, but given that construct of who is in the bullpen, the way the team is, they need Jeff Hoffman to be good.
“And so what does John Schneider do? He backs his guy. Because the bottom line is there is not a lot of options out there, and so the formula that they had last night is one that they’re going to have to grind away with here going forward as they wait for some of these injured players to come back. For Jeff, I’m sure, an old pro, getting backed by his manager, versus a ‘Well, we’re going to consider our options’ type of answer… you know, he responds.”
As Olney eludes to, Hoffman is undoubtedly a very important piece of the puzzle for the Blue Jays this season.
He locked down 33 saves for the Blue Jays last year heading into October, where he pitched to a 1.46 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 12 1/3 innings, including seven clean appearances from Game 1 of the American League Championship Series to Game 6 of the World Series. He cemented himself as one of Toronto’s most reliable arms before Miguel Rojas’ home run in the top of ninth inning in Game 7.
“The idea of a reliever giving up a big home run in October and then being broken the following year is a cliché,” added Olney. “It was absolutely huge for him that he was able to respond at a time when they need him to. When you look at the way the team is built, they need him to succeed, which is why John is continually giving him the ball.
“There would certainly be other managers, other teams where they would bail on a guy in his situation after giving up such a big home run in the World Series. But the Blue Jays haven’t, and last night Jeff responded. He looked great.”
Toronto (9-13) wraps up a lengthy road trip with two more games in Anaheim against the Angels, before returning home for a pair of series against the Cleveland Guardians and Boston Red Sox.
Patrick Corbin will get the ball opposite Jack Kochanowicz as the Blue Jays go for their first series victory since the opening week of the season.
