Blue Jays missing Benoit, Travis ahead of critical series against Orioles

TORONTO — Even though the New York Yankees are long gone, the effects of a contentious series finale with them on Monday night are still being felt at the Rogers Centre as the Toronto Blue Jays begin a critical three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Blue Jays will be without reliever Joaquin Benoit and second baseman Devon Travis when they open the series against Baltimore on Tuesday. Both Benoit and Travis were injured as a result of a bench-clearing brawl with the Yankees one night earlier.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons confirmed Benoit tore his left calf muscle after he tripped coming out of the bullpen to join the ruckus on the field. Gibbons compared Benoit’s injury to the one fellow reliever Brett Cecil suffered last year during Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.

It’s unclear how long Benoit will be sidelined for, though it's likely he misses the remainder of the regular season. When asked if he’d been ruled out for the rest of the year, Gibbons said: “We don’t know that yet.”

“It’s a big loss, no doubt about it. I mean, he’s been so good,” Gibbons said. “Cecil’s been better, you know, (Joe) Biagini, we’ll lean on those guys. If the starter’s good, we’ll try to push him as much as we can. We’ll just have to make some adjustments.”

The Blue Jays recalled right-handed pitcher Chris Smith, who has never thrown in the majors, and infielder Andy Burns to account for the injuries.

Travis, meanwhile, said he tweaked his left shoulder while he was caught up in the melee between the two teams on Monday. It’s the same shoulder he’s had surgically repaired and caused him to miss significant time last year, including the post-season.

Travis told reporters he didn’t exactly know what he did to re-aggravate his shoulder, but felt discomfort during his next at-bat in the fourth inning.

“I don’t even like know what happened. I didn’t even have like any acute pain when I first got out of the scrum — my adrenaline was high,” he said. “I walked up my next at-bat and took a swing and it was there. So it definitely happened in the middle of that scrum.”

Travis said his injury is listed as day-to-day and he's already felt an improvement between last night and today. He’s hoping to be back in the lineup this week.

“I actually feel better today than yesterday. I was pretty scared last night. Wasn’t a fun injury to go through and to have any flashbacks of it is not good,” he said. “I can move my arm today, though so definitely feel better today than yesterday.”

The timing for this couldn’t be worse for the Blue Jays as they begin what is probably the most important series of the season for either side.

The Orioles come into the Rogers Centre one game back of the Blue Jays for the top wild-card spot in the American League. The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners remain two games off the pace.

With three games to play, the Orioles could make up precious ground on the Blue Jays. Conversely, a Blue Jays sweep would put distance between themselves and the Orioles — and all but ensure the Rogers Centre plays host to the AL wild-card game.

As it stands, the magic number to make the playoffs for the Blue Jays is four — but any combination of  Toronto wins and Detroit and Seattle losses that equal four would also put Toronto into the post-season for the second straight year.

Sure, the math can get tricky, but as it has been for some time now, the Blue Jays control their own fate. Win, and you’re in. Lose, and that’s where things get complicated.