The Toronto Blue Jays have had to use an inordinate number of fill-in starting pitchers this year, thanks to the rash of injuries that has riddled their rotation, a wave that has washed over all but Marcus Stroman. Now, with Francisco Liriano gone to Houston and Aaron Sanchez shelved for most of the rest of the season, there are two holes in the rotation that need to be filled on a regular basis for the foreseeable future.
One of the interesting side lights of keeping up with the revolving door of replacement starters is delving into their back stories, and the various paths they’ve taken to their moment in the spotlight.
None can match the story of Chris Rowley’s map to today’s start against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Toronto, for being both unique and fortuitous.
For starters, Rowley is the first ever graduate of West Point, the United States Military Academy, to play in the major leagues. There are a couple of intertwined reasons for this. One is that though West Point’s baseball team plays in the top tier of U.S. college baseball, it seldom attracts top level prospects. The other is that graduates of West Point normally have a five-year commitment to military service following graduation. Obviously, five years in uniform would be a career-killer for any real major league prospect, and by the same token the commitment would deter top-notch prospects from signing on with the cadets.
Undeterred by these circumstances, Rowley chose to accept an appointment to the Academy, since it would offer him the best opportunity to start with a tier-one baseball programme. His career at West Point marked him as a possible future pro, and he was fortunate in being able to take advantage of a special provision offered by the army and navy academies to shorten the commitment of graduates who are prospective professional athletes to two years.
Rowley wasn’t picked in the 2013 draft, but was invited to pitch in the Gulf Coast rookie league that summer by the Blue Jays, in the time he had remaining before reporting for duty. He impressed them enough during that time that they were willing to sign him after he completed his two years’ service. During his time in uniform, he never pitched off a mound, and managed to keep loose while serving in Bulgaria and Rumania by throwing to an army medic who had some catching experience.
His age and physical/mental maturity no doubt contributed to his rapid rise in the Jays’ organization. Once shorn of his uniform, he spent 2016 in Dunedin at advanced A ball, and started this season at New Hampshire in Double A. Seventeen game appearances with the Fisher-Cats and 10 with the Buffalo Bisons, and here he was, taking the mound for the Blue Jays in Toronto on a grey afternoon with the roof closed.
There was no debut nervousness in Chris Rowley as he faced Starling Marte in the top of the first. I love a first-pitch strike. Even more do a I love a second-pitch slider that gets chased. I especially love when the leadoff hitter gets in the hole and grounds out weakly to the second baseman. Adam Frazier lined out to Steve Pearce in left on the first pitch, and Josh Harrison chased a sinker and two sliders to strike out on four pitches. Ex-Lieutenant Chris Rowley was through his first inning in the majors on nine pitches, had his first strikeout, and could stand at ease while his team-mates went to work on Pirates starter Trevor Williams.
Williams is a 25-year-old Californian who was a September callup to the Pirates last year and made the team out of spring training this year. He started in the bullpen, was slotted into the rotation in early May, and has been there ever since, compiling a 5-4 record with an ERA of 4.17 over 111 innings with a WHIP of 1.27, and averaging less than three walks a game.
However, he walked Jose Bautista to lead off the game, as who hasn’t, and that led directly to the Jays’ first run. After Josh Donaldson struck out, Justin Smoak singled him to third, and Steve Pearce hit a grounder up the middle for a fielder’s choice that allowed Bautista to score.
Rowley was rudely greeted in the top of the second when Josh Bell, the imposing young Pittsburgh first baseman, hit a liner to the opposite field that split the outfielders in left centre; Bell can fly, and fly he did, all the way to a close arrival at third for a triple. This posed a new situation for Rowley, suddenly confronted with a serious scoring threat, the ultimate test, a leadoff triple. He came so close to getting out of it. He fanned David Freese. Gregory Polanco lined out to Smoak at first. But shortstop Jordy Mercer confounded everyone by swinging at an 0-2 sinker that rose instead, almost above his head, and somehow getting on top of it to ground it up the middle for a base hit scoring Bell. John Jaso grounded into a fielder’s choice and the game was tied.
So, no fairy-tale no-hitter, or even shutout for Rowley, just a 1-1 baseball game after one and a half innings. That is, until Williams reached his game-average for walks in two innings and added a hit batsman to help the Jays go ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the second. First off, Williams hit Kevin Pillar, then retired Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney before giving up a ground single to centre by Rob Refsnyder, who broke his strikeout streak from last night’s game. Then he walked Bautista on a 3-2 pitch, and Donaldson on a 3-2 pitch to force in the run before striking out Smoak.
Rowley and Williams both settled down in the third inning, Rowley stranding a one-out Starling Marte single, and Williams retiring the side. The fourth mirrored the third, Rowley stranding a one-out single by Freese, and Williams putting the Jays out in order again.
In the fifth inning Rowley dismissed the Pirates on ten pitches, fly ball, two ground balls. After having a few rocky spots, he’d started looking like he was in it for the long haul, with his pitch count at only 64. Williams, on the other hand, came a-cropper in the bottom of the fifth, and not only did he contribute to his downfall, but his defense let him down, much as Stroman’s had the night before.
But Williams started it by hitting Bautista, leading off, adding to the right fielder’s phenomenal on-base percentage as leadoff man, despite his low batting average. Josh Donaldson lofted a tricky short fly into no-man’s land near the right-field line. Gregory Polanco raced in and nearly picked it off, but had to take it on the short hop. Unfortunately, he injured himself trying to make the play and had to be removed from the game, taking a potent bat out of the lineup.
Williams got the first out by fanning Justin Smoak, but then walked Steve Pearce. This loaded the bases and brought Kendrys Morales out of the dugout to hit for Raffy Lopez, his first appearance since reporting back for duty after his bout with the flu. Though he didn’t make a dramatic impact on the game, he did put his bat on the ball, and drove it on the ground toward short, where Jordy Mercer turned it over to Adam Frazier at second for the force on Pearce, but Frazier’s throw to first got past Josh Bell, and both Bautista and Donaldson scored, to bump the Toronto lead to 4-1. Kevin Pillar hit the ball hard, but right at Mercer on a line for the third out.
As it turns out, Trevor Williams took the loss and Chris Rowley got the win, but ironically Williams lasted longer on the mound than Rowley. With a three-run cushion, Rowley retired Frazier on a fly ball to left, but Harrison singled and Bell drew a walk. Manager John Gibbons decided that his rookie starter had reached his best-before, and turned the ball over to Dominic Leone, who brilliantly stifled the threat by fanning Freese and retiring Sean Rodriguez, who’d come in for Polanco, on a come-backer, taking only five pitches to preserved Rowley’s chance for a win in his first start.
So Rowley went out with five and a third innings pitched, giving up one run on five hits, walking one and striking out three on 75 pitches. First West Point grad to play in the majors. First West Point grad to start on the mound in the majors. First West Point grad to record a win in a major league start. And recipient of a warm ovation from the faithful in attendance, acknowledged by a modest tip of the cap.Well done, soldier!
In the sixth Williams survived a two-out single by Refsnyder, who had three hits in this game of redemption after last night’s debacle, and applauded Marte’s sliding catch of a blooper to short centre by Barney. Williams finished 6 full innings, gave up 3 earned runs on only four hits with seven strikeouts, but his kryptonite was four walks and two hit batters, both leading off, both of whom scored. When you factor in the error in the fifth, he still deserved a better fate.
Dominic Leone finished a powerful and effective performance by coming back and striking out the last two batters in the top of the seventh, stranding John Jaso, who had doubled with one out, at second. Five outs, one hit, three strikeouts, 19 pitches. You can’t post a better hold.
Joaquin Benoit was the sad man on the sidelines when Toronto made its playoff run last year. You’ll recall that Benoit had worked his way into the seventh-inning reliever position with the Jays after arriving in Toronto on July twenty-sixth in a trade for the disappointing Drew Storen (remember him?) Benoit made 25 appearance for the Jays, throwing 23 and two thirds innings to an incredible ERA of 0.38. But in the famous beanball game with the Yankees on September twenty-sixth, he tore a calf muscle while rushing out of the bullpen to join the melee. Thus he was sidelined for the playoffs, and then chose to sign with the Phillies as a free agent after the season ended. But his contribution to last year’s regular-season run for Toronto was undeniable.
Benoit has arrived by way of trade to the Pirates, and came into the game against his former team for the Toronto seventh. He didn’t fare well, either, but once again it was the Pittsburgh infield that contributed to the problem.
Benoit popped up Donaldson for the first out, but Smoak and Pearce followed with singles, with Smoak stopping at second. Catcher Mike Ohlman topped a little squibber to third that Josh Harrison should have eaten, but he tried to be a hero and threw the ball away; it went so far down the line that both Smoak and Pearce scored, and Ohlman ended up at third. Kevin Pillar followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Ohlman, and the Jays had three, but only one earned, off Benoit.
A.J. Schugel came on to finish up in the eighth for Pittsburgh, pitching around Refsnyder’s third base hit of the night. Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera shared the eighth inning, Tepera coming on to strike out Sean Rodriguez to strand a couple of base runners.
Leonel Campos got the ball in the ninth to mop up for the Jays. He allowed a leadoff home run by Jordy Mercer to make the final score 7-2 before finishing off the Pirates, stranding a two-out walk to Marte.
The inter-league series between Toronto and Pittsburgh is now knotted at one game apiece, and Jay Happ will face a reputedly tough right-hander, Chad Kuhl, in the rubber game tomorrow afternoon. Here’s hoping that, for the first time in this series, the game will be decided on the merits of one team or another, and not on mistakes. Sure, errors are part of the game, but they’re not all that edifying to watch.
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