Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider explained why he used Tyler Rogers in a critical situation against Baltimore Orioles 1B Pete Alonso.
The Blue Jays had a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning in Monday’s game in Baltimore. After Mason Fluharty walked the first batter he faced, he got the next two outs and was one out away from getting out of the inning.
But Schneider decided to bring in Rogers to pitch his third consecutive game, and he quickly gave up a mammoth, game-breaking two-run home run by Alonso, who connected for his 40th home run of the year.
The Orioles hung on and won the game 4-3, dropping the Blue Jays’ record to 77-80 and putting the team on life support with just five games left in the season.
John Schneider Explains Using Tyler Rogers Against Pete Alonso
Speaking to reporters following the game, Schneider explained his thought process in going to Rogers for a third straight day instead of sticking with Fluharty for the critical at-bat against the red-hot slugger Alonso.
“John Schneider on decision to use Rogers v. Alonso: ‘You trust him to make pitches like he has all year, and it’s kind of a combination of things to where Louis (Varland) wasn’t available for four outs.’ W/pen running thin, gave Rogers credit for taking the ball 3 days in a row,” wrote Blue Jays reporter Hazel Mae on X.
“You trust him to make pitches like he has all year, and it’s kind of a combination of things to where Louis (Varland) wasn’t available for four outs.
W/pen running thin, gave Rogers credit for taking the ball 3 days in a row
Blue Jays fans were not thrilled with Schneider’s decision to use Rogers for a third straight game, knowing he would likely be fatigued, and knowing how important it was for the Blue Jays to win this game against Baltimore.
Instead, Rogers blew the save and took the loss for Toronto in a game that the team simply couldn’t afford to lose at this late juncture of the season.
The other option that the Blue Jays had was to walk Alonso, knowing how hot he’s been as of late, but they decided to pitch to him and paid the price.
Blue Jays Season Almost Over
While the Blue Jays aren’t completely dead in the water yet, the odds of them making the postseason after this loss are slim to none, as the Blue Jays literally have a 1% chance to make the playoffs now.
The team can only max out at 82 wins if they win their five remaining games, which is a problem since the Chicago White Sox already have 80 wins and have six games left to win 82, which is all they need to beat out Toronto for the third and final American League Wild Card spot since they have the tiebreaker.
The Cleveland Guardians already have 81 wins, so the only way Toronto can make the playoffs is to hope Cleveland loses all of their remaining games, or only wins one of them and Toronto runs the table to get to 82 wins, as they would have the tiebreaker over Cleveland for the final Wild Card spot.
But those scenarios do not look good right now following this absolutely soul-crushing loss to Baltimore on Monday night in a game they were leading until they weren’t.
John Schneider Explains Using Tyler Rogers vs. Pete Alonso