Blue Jays bullpen a cause for concern after blown 7-2 lead against Red Sox

TORONTO – For all of the early struggles that the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen has endured, you could argue that Friday’s loss to the Boston Red Sox at the club’s home opener was simply a case of bad luck.

Better yet, bad timing.

Leading 7-2 at the top of the sixth inning, Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman had worked himself into a jam. Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts kicked off the inning with a double to left field before Stroman had walked both David Ortiz and Travis Shaw to load the bases.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons had two relievers getting loose in the bullpen: Left-hander Franklin Morales and right-hander Jesse Chavez. With Red Sox lefty Brock Holt approaching the plate, the former was certainly the preferred option.

But Morales, having reportedly “felt something” during warmups, was no longer available, leaving Gibbons with a tough decision: Stick with the struggling Stroman, or bring in Chavez for a not-so-ideal righty versus lefty matchup.

Gibbons opted for Chavez and just two pitches later, Holt went yard for the grand slam and the Red Sox had quickly trimmed a five-run deficit down to one.

“We had him [Morales] going and then we got a call down that something wasn’t right,“ said Gibbons after the game. “We always tell our guys down there that, hey, if something doesn’t look right, let us know. Hopefully he’s fine, but it kind of threw a little wrench in there.”

For the third game in a row the Blue Jays bullpen had effectively coughed up a lead, forcing the Jays to start the 2016 season with a record of 2-3. That's good for fourth in the AL East as the Jays trail the division-leading Baltimore Orioles by 2.5 games; not exactly the torrid start that many were expecting from the reigning divison champs.

Once thought to be one of the team's strengths heading into the season, the shaky bullpen is quickly proving to be anything but strong. Chavez currently sports a 4.50 ERA, which is actually quite low when compared to that of his bullpen mates. Gavin Floyd, who was credited with the loss on April 6 against the Tampa Bay Rays, currently sports a 7.71 ERA. Brett Cecil, Drew Storen, and Arnold Leon have been no better, sporting ERAs of 9.00, 13.50, and 27.00 respectively.

The lone bright spot in the bullpen has been Roberto Osuna: Two saves, 0.00 ERA and only one hit allowed in two strong innings. The Blue Jays have struggled mightily to get Osuna into the game, however, despite holding early leads in each of the last three.

It's the penchant for giving up the long ball that has doomed the Jays bullpen early in this 2016 season. The Jays have given up a total of seven home runs thus far, three of which have come from the struggling middle relievers. Chavez, Leon and Cecil have given up one home run a piece in just 4.1 combined innings pitched. The Jays starters have given up four home runs in 31.1 combined innings pitched.

But while the fans might be cursing Chavez's name, or calling for Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro's head, the Jays themselves don't appear to be panicking.

"We haven’t pitched particularly well lately, that’s for sure, but they’re [the relievers] good," said Gibbons. "They’ll fall in line a little bit. We really anticipated this [the bullpen] was going to be one of our strengths but it just hasn’t happened yet.”

“I’m not really concerned with all of those guys in the bullpen," said Josh Donaldson. "I feel like they’re going to do a good job, they just have to get acclimated to their surroundings a little bit. I think they’re going to be fine.”

Luck hasn't appeared to be on the Blue Jays' side in the early goings of this season, what with the controversial call on Jose Bautista's 9th inning slide into second base against the Rays and Morales' ill-timed injury last night against the Red Sox. But with just five games played in this nascent season, there's still plenty of time for the Blue Jays bullpen to prove their strength.