Trey Yesavage is back.
That’s the big news for the Toronto Blue Jays, as the young right-hander will start on the mound Monday night against the Baltimore Orioles as the Blue Jays try and chase down the third-and-final AL Wild Card spot to sneak into the postseason.
Yesavage, though, won’t be at full throttle.
Blue Jays fans tuning in expecting to see him throw a length gem will be thoroughly disappointed.
Yesavage isn’t stretched out fully enough to be a long-lasting arm in this game. The Blue Jays will just have to hope that while he’s in the game, he gets outs.
Trey Yesavage Pitch Count Tonight
Blue Jays reporter Arden Zwelling reported over the weekend what the plan is for Yesavage on Monday night.
Zwelling’s post said that the ideal outing for Yesavage would finish between 45 and 50 pitches.
That works out to about three innings, Zwelling writes — assuming Yesavage is getting outs.
It’s fair for Toronto to prefer Yesavage to have three low-stress innings of 15-17 pitches apiece, rather than two high-stress innings of 25 pitches each.
Yesavage is coming back to the majors after just one rehab outing. He threw on Sept. 15 for Triple-A Buffalo against Rochester, and he allowed two hits and two runs while walking one and striking out none in just 0.2 innings.
He likely got one solid bullpen session in between that outing on 9/15 and now his scheduled start on Monday night, 9/21.
For better or worse, Toronto couldn’t afford to wait any longer to bring Yesavage up. It was now or never, so they’ll take whatever his arm can provide.
Spencer Miles Problem
It seemed that things would work out nicely here for the Blue Jays as long as they could preserve Spencer Miles to follow Yesavage.
Miles has been a gem after being a Rule 5 Draft pick, and he’s done some long relief this season to allow him to throw two or three innings after Yesavage.
The problem is that Miles doesn’t look likely to be available.
He pitched on Sunday, going 3.0 innings in a 7-2 win over the Rangers. He allowed two hits and no runs while striking out four. Miles was pretty dominant, but he threw 46 pitches. There’s pretty much no chance the Blue Jays would use him Monday.
Toronto clearly decided that was their best hope of winning a key Sunday game against the Rangers. They went from Miles starting to Spencer Arrighetti following, and that got the job done with five other relievers combining to pitch after those guys, as well.
The Blue Jays are in all hands on deck mode, and so it’ll likely be Yesavage followed by a handful of other arms on Monday night.
It’s not about it being pretty at this point for Toronto. They’re three games back with six to play. They just have to win.
Blue Jays’ Trey Yesavage Pitching Plan Includes Innings, Pitch Count