TORONTO — Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt are a cornerstone of how the Toronto Blue Jays are built, which is why before answering a question about how trio’s dependability benefits the entire roster, manager John Schneider first knocked on wood.
“They are competitive. They always want to pitch. They understand certain situations. They have answered the bell numerous times when we’re kind of short in the rotation. And it’s not easy to do,” he said.
“We’ve asked a lot of them. They’ve got a lot of innings pitched, all of them. They’re reliable. They keep you in ballgames. And I can’t really speak to the luxury that it is because it’s not really found in today’s game this much, to have three guys that post … but to have those three guys do what they do consistently, it makes you feel good and gives you a chance every single time.”
A pair of weekend games against the Chicago White Sox, when Berrios went 7.2 innings in a 7-1 win Saturday before Bassitt threw six innings of one-run ball in an eventual 4-2 Sunday loss that capped a 3-3 homestand, underlined why what they offer is so vital.
The Blue Jays were in a bind once Friday’s bullpen game blew up, necessitating the use of seven different pitchers and leaving little margin for error entering the two weekend games. Berrios did the heavy lifting Saturday while Bassitt completed the staff’s reset Sunday, giving everyone a chance to fully refresh ahead of Tuesday’s series opener at Cleveland.
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Some of that opportunity went sideways in a messy eighth Sunday, when Brendon Little left two on and two out for closer Jeff Hoffman, who walked the bases loaded before booting Andrew Benintendi’s little chopper by the mound, allowing the tying run to score. Miguel Vargas followed with a go-ahead two-run double and while Hoffman got out of the eighth, Nick Sandlin started but couldn’t escape the ninth, requiring Braydon Fisher to bail him out.
All of that squandered two RBI singles from Bo Bichette — and the Blue Jays wasted chances for more with two runners thrown out at the plate.
Still, the weekend innings from Berrios and Bassitt are doubly important with Eric Lauer, transitioning into a steadier rotation role, expected to start the first game versus the Guardians and Max Scherzer due to come off the injured list and pitch Wednesday before Gausman goes in the finale.
Nearly three months of bullpen games and Bowden Francis inconsistencies could easily have capsized the club’s ambitions, but the Big Three’s work has helped the Blue Jays hold everything together.
Consider that the combined 273.1 innings logged by Berrios, Gausman and Bassitt ranks second among American League trios, just behind the 275 from Tampa Bay’s Ryan Pepiot, Zach Littell and Shane Baz and just ahead of the 272 from Max Fried, Carlos Rodon and Will Warren of the New York Yankees.
Of the Blue Jays’ 389.1 rotation innings — which ranks 24th in the majors — 70 per cent of them have come from Berrios, Gausman and Bassitt. They’ve also logged 40 per cent of the club’s total of 686.2 frames.
Pick your metaphor of choice, but it’s no exaggeration to call them the underpinning, the stability posts, the base for everything the Blue Jays do.
Scherzer’s return Wednesday has the potential to stabilize the rotation, although the uncertainty about his status due to his thumb issues will linger.
Scherzer is coming off a 75-pitch rehab outing with triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday.
“I was able to recover — that’s good. But this issue is going to keep on going for me. It’s just an ongoing issue, so I’ve got to figure out how to manage it and stay out there,” he said.
“There’s nothing you can do, it’s not like you can take more rehab starts and that’s going to fix it,” he added later. “Once you get to a major-league game, the intensity goes up, so how’s that going to respond? You’re never going to know until you actually do it. So that’s why I always say, I’m not going to consider myself over this until I’m in the majors making starts and not having to deal with this.”
Finding ways to deal with the thumb is something that Scherzer and the Blue Jays could only do thanks to the reliability Berrios, Gausman and Bassitt provide.
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