The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Yimi Garcia has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left ankle sprain. Right-hander Robinson Pina was called up from Triple-A to take Garcia’s spot on the active roster.
Garcia was only just activated from a prior IL stint on Wednesday, as the reliever had missed just under six weeks due to a shoulder impingement. The righty’s brief return to Toronto’s roster consisted of one appearance and one inning of work that saw Garcia surrender a game-tying two-run homer to Aaron Judge, though Garcia was still the winning pitcher in the Jays’ 11-9 win over the Yankees.
That outing boosted Garcia’s ERA to 3.86 over 21 innings and 22 games. Garcia has been missing a lot of bats (27.8% strikeout rate), but he has a 13.3% walk rate that would be far and away the highest of his 11 big league seasons. While Garcia hasn’t necessarily been at his sharpest, he has still been a key high-leverage arm out of the Blue Jays’ bullpen, and he’ll now be out again until at least beyond the All-Star break.
The lack of depth at the back of Toronto’s rotation has led the team to lean hard on its bullpen, as the Jays rank eighth in baseball with 337 2/3 relief innings pitched. The Blue Jays figured to be targeting starting and relief pitching at the deadline already, and their needs in the pen will be exacerbated if there’s now any question about Garcia’s availability in the rest of July.
Maybe he should’t have gone 34 pitches in the highest leverage of situations his first time out.
Agreed but to be fair he was out with a shoulder injury and is now out with a ankle sprain
Yah those high leverage situations are tough on the ankle
@Dustyslambchops23
*BOL… ankle leverage stat as a predictor of injury? I-I-I-I like it!
To be fair when i posted, no specifics about the injury was given. But i’m sure Scherzer could connect the injuries if asked
They can’t wait they have to trade for a reliever now
@Shooter38
They need a starter more and they need him before now.
No they need the reliever today. Right now they have 5 starters doing well just need to get another starter before max lands on the IL again
@bigdaddyt
If they get another starter they can move Lauer to the pen as the longman. That’s 2 or 3 relievers they can keep fresh. This rotation is an inquiry, Scherzer as you state, away from having Bowden Francis pitching every 5th day.
Need two more decent relievers at least.
Toronto really has some close game magic going. Pleasant surprise.
*sigh..
“…and the hits just keep coming.”