Going into the ALCS, one of the main stories was the Blue Jays offense versus the Royals bullpen. Could Toronto put enough runs on the board early on to render Kansas City’s dominant bullpen an afterthought?
Well, as the 3-1 series lead for the Royals may indicate, that really hasn’t happened. The Jays have scored a total of five runs in their three losses in the series. But even though that’s a low total, it’s not as if Kansas City’s rotation has dominated. No Royals starter has gone more than six innings in the four games. In their three wins, the team’s starting pitchers have a 3.38 ERA over 16 innings, striking out 15 and walking nine. Toronto has had chances, but couldn’t cash in.
LCS Coverage
The Jays’ pen has been atrocious in this series. LaTroy Hawkins has allowed five runs in a total of one inning over two games. Ryan Tepera was fed to the wolves in Game 4, and allowed four runs. Liam Hendriks was excellent in Game 4, but allowed three runs in Game 3. Mark Lowe has been used in all four games, and has allowed two runs. Including a total of just two innings from Roberto Osuna and Aaron Sanchez (and a third of an inning from Cliff Pennington), the Jays bullpen has a 10.29 ERA in 14 innings during the ALCS. That’s simply atrocious.
But that’s not all! Remember back in Game 2, when John Gibbons let David Price die on the hill in the seventh inning after setting down 18 in a row from innings one through six? Well, Price ended up allowing five runs in that seventh inning. In the series, Jays pitching has allowed a total of 21 runs in the game’s final three innings. How many runs has the Jays offense scored in those three inning? Just one – and that run came on Ryan Goins’ solo homer in Game 3.
The Royals bullpen has done their job extremely well – the team’s only relievers to allow runs this series are Kris Medlen (who threw five innings in relief of Johnny Cueto in Game 3) and Franklin Morales (who relieved Medlen in that game). Even including those runs, Kansas City’s relievers have a 1.59 ERA in this series in 17 innings, striking out 18 and walking four. That’s one hell of a disparity, and the biggest difference in the series through four games.
However, it’s not as if Toronto is dominating the first two-thirds of each game before falling apart. They enjoy an advantage of just 15-12 in the first six innings of these first four games, meaning that their performance in the final three innings is crucial to their success. They’ve failed miserably so far.
If the Blue Jays want to win the AL pennant, they don’t need to obliterate the Royals bullpen – they just need to prevent their own bullpen from getting destroyed. It hasn’t happened yet, and I doubt it’ll end up happening before this series is over.
