Why Blue Jays opted for five-infielder shift before Yankees walk off

Jamie Campbell and Madison Shipman discuss the Toronto Blue Jays being walked off by the New York Yankees in the 10th inning on Sunday after DJ LeMahieu hit a ground ball through five defenders in the infield.

NEW YORK – Two outs into the fifth inning at 76 pitches, with the bases empty and Juan Soto due up, Yariel Rodriguez wanted to keep going. So much so that when he spotted John Schneider coming out of the dugout and pointing to the bullpen, he walked off the mound, shaking his head and muttering to himself, reluctantly handed the ball to his manager and resumed shaking his head and as he walked off the field. He continued to register his disagreement with the decision through a line of high-fives in the Toronto Blue Jays dugout.

The emotional display from the right-hander capped a solid rebound outing by the right-hander, who didn’t escape the first in a four-run mess Tuesday in Baltimore but pinned the New York Yankees down in what finished as a 4-3 loss in 10 innings Sunday afternoon. 

“I’m very competitive, heat of the moment,” Rodriguez said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “As the competitor that I am, I wanted to continue. That was in the moment, but I’m OK now with the decision.”

The Blue Jays barely held on to a 2-0 lead in that fifth, as Brendon Little walked Juan Soto, issued a free pass to Aaron Judge and walked Austin Wells to load the bases before Zach Pop struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the frame. But Pop allowed the first two Yankees to reach in the sixth and after a double-steal, Ryan Yarbrough gave up a run-scoring groundout to Trent Grisham and sacrifice fly to DJ LeMahieu to tie the game.

“Every pitcher’s upset when I take him out,” Schneider said of Rodriguez’s reaction. “It’s 4.2, you’re in line for a win, I totally get it. He’s at 75 pitches. He wasn’t going back out (for the sixth). And looking at it, you trust Little to get a lefty, we’re not pitching to Judge, so he has two shots to get either Soto or Wells out. And with a day off (Monday) and a lot of guys available, that was the thinking. (Rodriguez) had a really short outing in Baltimore, so, didn’t really want to push him past where he was.”

A different set of tensions turned up in the seventh when Soto hit a go-ahead homer off Genesis Cabrera to open the inning and then, with Wells up after another Judge intentional walk, the lefty asked for a new ball and threw the one in hand to the Yankees side of the field.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone took exception to that, picked up the ball and whipped it to the Blue Jays’ side of the field. Cabrera patted his chest, signalling that was on him, and the umpires conferred about the strange scene, opting to play on, only to eject Boone and hitting coach James Rowson moments later for arguing balls and strikes with Stanton up. 

Emotions settled from there, the Blue Jays tied the game in the eighth on an Alejandro Kirk sacrifice fly before a one hour 49 minute rain delay. Once play resumed, they worked out of a jam in the bottom half help by issuing Judge’s third intentional walk of the game and then in the 10^th, after Mark Leiter Jr., kept the game tied in the top half, Grisham sacrificed the ghost-runner over to third before LeMahieu shot a ball off Bowden Francis up the middle through a five-man infield to win the game.

That capped a trying 2-5 road trip for the Blue Jays that began with four games over three days in Baltimore that included five trades ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. It ended with Schneider so keen to avoid facing Judge, the superstar outfielder was walked intentionally in his final three trips up.

The Barry Bonds-esque treatment “is singularly focused around how talented Aaron is and the numbers that he’s put up basically at a historic pace,” said Schneider. “So, the less times he can swing, the better, really, when you’re facing a guy that good. If we played them again, I would do the same thing again.”

The thorough sell-off has turned the final two months into an extended pre-2025 evaluation period for the Blue Jays and while newcomer Joey Loperfido settles in around the young players that were already up, Rodriguez’s progression is pivotal on the pitching side.

Through 11 starts, the 27-year-old has shown that he has the repertoire to run through a lineup multiple times. But he didn’t pitch competitively last year while leaving Cuba for North America and hasn’t started regularly since 2019-20 with Camaguey in the Cuban National Series, leaving legitimate questions about whether he can make the jump. 

Back issues have slowed him twice this season, once during spring training and again during a 44-game injured-list stint in May and June, but “we still think he’s very capable of getting deeper into games,” said pitching coach Pete Walker. “And throughout the next two months, it’s a good opportunity for us to really see what he can do in the rotation.”

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The way he handled the Yankees on Sunday helps explain why. Like in Baltimore last time out, Rodriguez was shaky in the first, allowing the first two batters to reach. But he rallied to strike out Judge, and after a Wells single loaded the bases, he got Stanton on a pop-up and Jazz Chisholm Jr., on a lineout to escape without damage.

In the third, he struck out Soto with one on before a Judge single, again recovering, getting Wells and Stanton, and had retired seven straight when he was taken out in the fifth.

“Last outing, it was a bad outing, I’m not going to say anything about that. But I prepared myself very well for this one and I really was very focused,” said Rodriguez. “Physically, I’m feeling very well. There’s a plan for me … they’ve been preparing me very well for this, for my outings. I’m OK right now.”

Rodriguez’s fastball topped out at 97.4 m.p.h. and he was still hitting 95 in the fifth, an important marker as the Blue Jays watch how he holds his velocity. His stuff was down during the Baltimore implosion and Walker noted that he’s “getting used to the role and pushing himself to get 75-80 pitches.”

“We feel he can do it and potentially be a 100-pitch pitcher,” he added. “We’ll watch it and we really want to see him get a good feel for starting and the routine.”

To that end, the Blue Jays wanted to give their starters an extra day this week and still plan to start Francis on Wednesday versus the Baltimore Orioles, even though he pitched the 10^th on Sunday. For the time being, they’re still deciding what’s the best approach to take with Jake Bloss, a key part of the Yusei Kikuchi return, while they also build up Yarbrough, who “gives us flexibility and will be very valuable for us,” said Walker.

While Yarbrough, for the time being, is a get-through-the-season relief piece, this is prime audition time for the likes of Little, Pop, Ryan Burr and Yerry Rodriguez. 

Chad Green, Cabrera and, if he continues to bounce back, Erik Swanson are the foundation for next year’s bullpen, and Jordan Romano gives the Blue Jays a fourth piece if healthy and the sides can work out a deal around his final year of arbitration.

Beyond results, the Blue Jays will be watching for “composure, guys getting comfortable up here and making pitches when they need to,” said Walker. “It’s really finding their best pitch arsenal and then finding ways to utilize those pitches. It’s a little bit of a work in progress for a few guys right now. But it’s an opportunity for them to really show what they can do to see if they’re able to put themselves in a position to be part of the bullpen next year.”

Rodriguez’s progress will either keep him in the rotation or send him back into the bullpen mix. But the way he reacted when Schneider came to get him made it clear that he not only wants to start, but that he wants to do more than just five-and-dive, too.

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