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Week 1 Highlights

ATLANTA — Yariel Rodriguez’s year-over-year workload is quite literally going 0-to-100, which is why the Toronto Blue Jays are being especially careful with his outings over the season’s final three weeks. Still, even with guard-rails in place, there’s room for him to get relatively deep into a game when he’s particularly effective, the way he was in Sunday’s 4-3 loss in 11 innings to Atlanta.

The 27-year-old tacked on five more innings while allowing only a single run, upping his 2024 total to 93.2 between the majors (73.1) and minors (20.1). While he did throw last year in the Dominican Republic as his citizenship status and contractual situation with Japanese team Chunichi were settled, this year is the pitching equivalent of going pedal-to-the-floor after being stopped at a red light.

“I feel pretty good overall about this year,” Rodriguez said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “I think we accomplished the plan that we had since the beginning. It’s been ups and downs. Of course, I learned a lot during the process and at the same time, it’s going to help me a lot to carry over for next year, to bring my confidence and to continue as a starter.”

Consider, too, that in 2022 with Chunichi he logged only 54.2 innings after carrying 96.1 and 94.2 frames while mostly relieving during the 2020 and ’21 seasons, and the current caution is not only understandable, but sensible. Rodriguez’s career-high for innings in a season is 133.1 while pitching in the Cuban National Series in 2018, and the Blue Jays’ long-term goal remains getting him beyond that total as a starter in the majors.

“Ideally that’s the plan,” said manager John Schneider. “This is around the target that we had hoped for in terms of innings. What he’s doing in between (outings) I think is really important. We’ll continue to navigate it, we’ll continue to monitor it. Going through this now is beneficial for him. And if we can set him up to where, yeah, he’s on a normal five-day routine and if you get that off-season planning, that’s going to be great for him, great for us.”

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Whether Rodriguez is ultimately capable of consistently running through opposing lineups two to three times is a significant question for the Blue Jays if they intend to contend in 2025. Their rotation will once again be fronted by Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt with Bowen Francis over the past five weeks making a remarkably compelling case for a spot next year. 

Assuming he’s in the rotation, that leaves one opening for which Rodriguez would be the front-runner, barring free-agent additions, with Jake Bloss, one of the key pieces acquired from Houston in the Yusei Kikuchi deal, in the system, awaiting an opportunity. Alek Manoah, recovering from hybrid ligament-replacement surgery, could potentially factor in as early as July/August, too, so the Blue Jays have a reasonable rotation base to work from.

At the same time, their bullpen needs to be rebuilt, particularly on the late-inning leverage side, and with the offence requiring at least one head-on-the-pillow producer, the Blue Jays will have to decide how to best allocate their resources. 

Rodriguez in the rotation allows the front office to focus more on the relief and offensive help, but at the same time, given his time as a leverage arm in Japan, he could help solve the bullpen needs, with a back-fill starter taking over in the rotation.

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How the off-season market develops will ultimately decide which way the Blue Jays go, but outings like Sunday help bolster the case for Rodriguez continuing to start.

He allowed just two hits — a Jarred Kelenic solo shot on a mistake middle-middle sinker in the second inning and a Jorge Soler single on a hanging slider to open the fourth — and a walk while striking out six. 

“I learned this year that between outings you really have to work, stay ready, prepare yourself, recover,” said Rodriguez. “It’s something that I do already and I’m taking into next year to start the year with a lot of energy and somehow, anyhow pitch well and try to help my team win some games.”

Before Sunday’s start, Schneider said the length of Rodriguez’s outings would “depend on his efficiency … especially first time through the order,” and the right-hander obliged, with only 73 pitches through five frames. He was helped by 10 swinging strikes, seven of them on his slider, to keep the game in check as the Blue Jays worked Chris Sale for 113 pitches over six innings despite only two hits and a walk against the Cy Young candidate.

That got them into the Atlanta bullpen earlier than they otherwise might have, with Spencer Horwitz delivering a pinch-hit, two-run homer off Joe Jimenez in the eighth to put the Blue Jays up 2-1. 

A bizarre moment followed in the bottom half of the frame, when Genesis Cabrera came on with a runner on third and two out and induced a groundout to first to escape the jam. After running over to cover first and taking the relay from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the excitable lefty pumped his fist aggressively and as he was walking off the field, had an exchange with the Atlanta dugout and made a come-here motion to someone. 

George Springer ended up pulling him away but home-plate umpire Doug Eddings started following Cabrera, yelling at him. Schneider charged in to separate them and the situation diffused.

“Heat of the moment. We know Cabby is fiery — it’s one of the things that makes him really good. Over there close to their dugout, you’ve got to be a little bit careful,” said Schneider. “Doug wasn’t saying anything bad. I think it’s cool that umpires are invested. He wasn’t out for anything. He wasn’t trying to do anything malicious towards George or Cabby or me. I was just going out to make sure nothing escalated from both sides. There was nothing much to it.”

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Chad Green, who’d given up three-run homers to blow saves in his two previous outings, took over in the ninth and allowed consecutive base hits before Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly tied the game 2-2, although he held the damage there.

After both teams left the bases loaded during a scoreless 10th, Springer’s two-out single in the 11th put the Blue Jays up 3-2 but they came undone messily in the bottom half, with Zach Pop in his second inning of work. Pop didn’t get off the mound on Eli White’s leadoff bunt, turning it into a single. Addison Barger then threw away Adam Duvall’s grounder, allowing the tying run to score, and after an intentional walk to Olson, Sean Murphy’s infield chopper brought home the winning run.

“You can chalk it up to inexperience, but at the end of the day, this is the big-leagues, you’ve got to make plays,” said Schneider. “You learn from it. We’ll talk about it (Monday). You move on.”

On to the final three weeks of assessment before the off-season adjustments and decisions that follow.

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