ARLINGTON -- This is the time of year when every out becomes a little more valuable. On Friday night, Dylan Cease could only give the Blue Jays eight of them.
Cease lasted just 2 2/3 innings in the Blue Jays’ 7-1 loss against the Rangers at Globe Life Field, allowing four runs (one earned) on three hits while issuing a season-high six walks and striking out a season-low three batters. He threw 74 pitches, but only 36 for strikes as his command deserted him and he suffered another dip in his fastball velocity.
And this was hardly the night the Blue Jays could afford that type of outing. Toronto (76-78) still sits two games out of the third AL Wild Card spot with just eight games remaining after Chicago (78-76) lost to Detroit, but the Rangers (77-77) are now ahead of the Blue Jays. Toronto owns the tiebreaker over Cleveland (79-75), but not Texas or Chicago, leaving little margin for error.
“[I’m disappointed] with the lack of command,” Cease said. “If you don't have velocity or sharp stuff [but] throw strikes and execute, you can still get outs. But walks and [no] command at all is not a good recipe."
Friday stood in stark contrast to what Cease has done for most of the season. Among qualifying AL pitchers, Cease entered Friday ranked first in strikeout rate (35.3%), strikeouts (239), FIP (2.47) and opponents’ batting average (.180), while ranking second with a 2.40 ERA.
His fastball velocity, however, has become something to watch. A dip that first emerged in June continued Friday, when his fastball averaged 93.6 mph, compared to his season average of 96.9 mph. It averaged 94.8 mph on Sunday and 94.9 mph on Sept. 7.
In fact, Cease’s velocity was down by at least 2 mph on all five of his pitches Friday.
Cease did top out at 95.5 mph on his second-to-last pitch of the night, but neither he nor catcher Alejandro Kirk believes the lower readings fundamentally change how they need to attack hitters.
“I'm just trying to get in the zone and execute,” Cease said. “You know, whether it's 92 or 98 [mph], the name of the game is executing pitches. So that's all I'm really trying to do.”
“We don’t pay a lot of attention to the velocity,” Kirk added in Spanish. “Sometimes you don’t have your best stuff but you can get a lot of outs. It was a difficult night for him in terms of command, but he is a tremendous pitcher.”
The obvious question, particularly this late in the season, is whether the declining velocity has anything to do with health and whether it could lead to the Blue Jays giving Cease extra rest or skipping a turn through the rotation. For now, manager John Schneider said there have been no indications that such a move is necessary as the team pushes for a spot in the postseason.
“For a guy that's pitched as long as he has, and when you're communicating with him, we've got a ton of confidence and trust in our medical team,” Schneider said. “If there were some real red flags to where the player was putting himself in harm's way, it'd be a different story. He's grinding, for sure, and he's frustrated with the way the stuff is coming out. But I think if there were huge, huge red flags in terms of anything, he wouldn't be out there.”
Instead, Schneider believes Cease’s search for his usual stuff may be contributing to the command problems that surfaced Friday.
“A pitcher like him … you're kind of accustomed to pitching a certain way,” Schneider said. “He's reaching back for a little bit more, and it's not really getting [the results] right now. Then you kind of fall out of your delivery a little bit. [He’s] not sequencing the way he usually does, and the walks are just really uncharacteristic.”
The Blue Jays can ill afford many short starts from Cease. Injuries have forced Toronto into bullpen games and bulk-relief outings throughout the season, and the club has used off-days to operate with a four-man rotation at times to get Cease and José Soriano on the mound as often as possible.
Toronto ended up needing six arms to cover eight innings Friday.
“To me, it is one of the best bullpens, but we also need to help with batting and defense,” Kirk said after Toronto managed five hits and committed three errors. “We can’t let it all fall on the pitchers. We need to do our jobs, and we understand that.”