Robbie Ray didn’t take the mound Wednesday night time, however he received the Cy Young Award.
It was José Berríos who began for the Blue Jays, and who took an ideal sport into the fifth inning, however his rotation mate may need come out of the sport with the largest prize.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is Ray’s closest competitors for the year-end award for pitching prowess, and the Jays knocked him round, though their lead didn’t final and so they needed to come again to win on Bo Bichette’s dramatic eighth-inning house run off Clay Holmes.
Cole gave up 5 runs on 9 hits in his six innings of labor, with seven of these hits going for additional bases (two homers and 5 doubles). With the Yankees’ seventh-inning rally off Tim Mayza, his first blown save since Might 16, Cole wound up with a no-decision and can end the season at 16-8 so far as wins and losses go.
The correct-hander’s ERA, which was 2.73 when September started, climbed to three.23, dropping him to 3rd within the league behind Ray and Oakland’s Chris Bassitt. His WHIP jumped to 1.059, which additionally slipped him behind Bassitt for third within the league behind the chief, Ray.
Cole struck out six to offer him 243 on the season, and his six innings upped his whole to 181 1/3. Each numbers path Ray’s, and the Jays left-hander, who leads the league in each these classes too, nonetheless has a begin to go. He’ll get the ball Thursday night time, making an attempt to pitch the Jays to a series win.
Ray, who leads the league with a 2.68 ERA, might surrender 10 runs in three innings of labor Thursday and nonetheless win the league’s ERA title.
Bichette, who homered twice and have become the fourth completely different Jay with 100 RBIs this season, didn’t suppose beating up on Cole helped Ray’s possibilities for the Cy Young, however that’s as a result of he thinks his teammate already has it locked up.
“We all believe that Robbie’s deserving of that award,” Bichette stated after his massive night time, “so we’re just going to try to compete as best we can against whoever’s out there. We just had good at-bats today (against Cole) and scored some runs.”
Marcus Semien additionally shied away from any awards speak after the sport, given the playoff-race stakes.
“I know Robbie’s not thinking about (winning a Cy Young) right now,” stated Semien, whose first-inning house run off Cole was his forty fourth of the season, a major-league report for a main second baseman. “He’s thinking about the Yankees’ lineup and how to attack it. I think he does have a great chance (at the Cy Young), though.”
Ray won't be excited about it proper now, however we actually are. It’s been a sensational season for the Jays’ sudden ace, an all-star again in 2017 who might by no means corral his unimaginable stuff till this 12 months.
When the Jays picked him up on the commerce deadline final season, he was main the foremost leagues in walks, having issued 31 free passes in 31 innings over his first seven begins with Arizona.
That’s not a misprint. A stroll per inning whereas averaging beneath 5 innings per begin. Positive doesn’t look something just like the man so many Jays followers have fallen in love with this season.
This season, Ray, who will flip 30 on Friday, has reached profession highs in innings pitched and strikeouts and profession lows in ERA and WHIP. A pitcher who hadn’t walked fewer than 3.7 batters per 9 innings, reaching a career-worst mark of seven.8 final season, has walked solely 2.3 batters per 9 this 12 months.
It’s a trajectory that’s not dissimilar to Corridor of Famer Randy Johnson’s.
Sure, the Massive Unit is a bodily freak at six-foot-11, which gave him some further and really distinctive challenges in making an attempt to provide you with a constant and repeatable supply, however he too didn’t have his first nice season till the 12 months he turned 30.
Johnson, possibly the perfect left-handed pitcher ever, was an all-star for the primary time in 1990, when he was 26, however then slipped again for a few seasons, main the foremost leagues in walks each years whereas piling up the strikeouts.
In his age-29 season, he stopped strolling folks, saved hanging them out and completed second in Cy Young voting. Two years later, Johnson received the primary of his 5 Cy Young awards.
In his age-29 season, Ray goes to win the Cy Young, a few years prior to his mentor with the Diamondbacks, and the beating his teammates placed on his major competitors Wednesday night time sealed the deal.
Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Observe him on Twitter: @wilnerness
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