Blue Jays lose starter Ross Stripling to injury in doubleheader split vs. Angels; Steven Matz will remain fifth starter

The Blue Jays’ pending starting pitching decision on which of Steven Matz or Ross Stripling would be the odd-man out as they cut their rotation from six starters back down to five looks to have been made for them — at least for now.

In the second game in Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels, Stripling was removed after just two scoreless innings and 28 pitches, with the team citing the reason as “left abdominal discomfort.”

After the game, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo confirmed the initial diagnosis for Stripling was an oblique strain, though he’ll receive more testing Wednesday. Montoyo didn’t want to speculate on the severity of the injury or a potential timeline but did say, “He’s not going to make his next start, that’s for sure.”

Following Stripling’s early exit, relievers Trevor Richards and Adam Cimber each pitched two scoreless innings — Cimber was outstanding, needed only 17 pitches to get six outs — and Jordan Romano took over in the seventh and, though he loaded the bases with two outs via two singles and a walk, he got Shohei Ohtani to strike out to preserve the 4-0 win. The result meant the Blue Jays earned a split on the day after they lost Game 1 of the twin bill 6-3 with Matz making the start in that one.

“Richards was outstanding, of course, Cimber was also good and then Romano. That was huge, those two guys covering four innings was very big in this game, in this win for sure,” Montoyo said.

Heading into the day, the pair of games against the Angles had been slated as a final audition of sorts for both Matz and Stripling, who were the candidates fighting for that fifth starter’s job, while the odd man out would head to the bullpen.

Previously, to get through a stretch of 20 games in 19 days, which included three doubleheaders, the Blue Jays had been using six starting pitchers. But the team never intended on using a six-man rotation permanently.

With two off-days next week, after this turn of the rotation, one starter was slated to move to the bullpen. But now, with Stripling sidelined for an unknown period of time, Matz will hang on to his starting spot. Though, that might have been the outcome regardless of Stripling’s health status.

On paper, Matz and Stripling have looked fairly even, though Stripling’s statistics are a bit skewed because of his rough start to the season. Since May 24, after he tweaked his mechanics, his ERA is 3.29 and his WHIP is 1.02. Matz, on the other hand, had a strong start but has been more uneven lately, with a 4.35 ERA and 1.57 WHIP since June 6.

But Stripling’s experience pitching out of the bullpen might have come into play when deciding who was better suited to move to the bullpen. In fact, ahead of Tuesday’s games, Montoyo was asked what would factor into the decision regarding who was staying in the rotation and who was going to the bullpen.

“The one thing about Ross is that he’s done it before and he’s comfortable (in the bullpen) so that could help in the move, but we’ll see,” Montoyo said. “We’ll see what happens after these two games and then we’ll go from there.”

Over his six seasons in the majors, 4 1/2 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Stripling has largely worked as a swingman, toggling between the rotation and the bullpen. He’s made 88 appearances as a reliever compared to 80 starts. Speaking to the media after his Aug. 5 start, Stripling said he is used to the idea of shifting from starting to relieving since it’s something he’s done a lot of in the past. Matz, meanwhile, has pitched only five games as a reliever.

“That’s been my career up to date, for six years, I’ve kind of had that thought in the back of my mind at all times, I’ve never really showed up to a spring training with a for-sure spot in the rotation, so I’m always kind of battling for that spot, battling for that job so it’s more of the same for me,” Stripling said.

“I’ve always taken the attitude that I can control what I can control, which is as corny as it gets, but if I pitch well, I’m going to get the ball, whether that’s pitching out of the rotation or pitching in the bullpen,” he continued. “I’ve always believed that if you’re throwing the ball well, they’re going to get you innings and that’s all I want at the end of the day. Obviously, I want to be a starter and I feel like my arsenal fits as a starter but this is crunch time, it’s about winning ballgames now, and if they think Matz or whoever gives you a chance every fifth day to win a ball (game) more than me, then I’ll deal with that and take the ball whenever they give it to me and that’s kind of what I’ve done my whole career.”

If Stripling can make it back from his oblique strain before the end of the season, the Blue Jays might opt to use him in a long-relief role then, just given the limited runway there would be to get him back into the rotation.

In the meantime, with Matz remaining as the fifth starter, he’ll likely want his next outing to be sharper than his outing Tuesday. Matz pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Matz wasn’t exactly getting shellacked in this one but was rather undone by a series of singles finding holes and dropping in. He had trouble closing out innings, three times getting two quick outs — in the second, third and fifth — only to allow the next batters to reach base. The Angels scored all four runs charged to Matz with two outs.

“I’m not walking away today and thinking that was a bad outing, those guys battled and they hit some singles through the infield, balls fell, I think that’s kind of how I’m walking away from today feeling more than anything,” he said. “Ultimately, it was a loss so that’s very frustrating.”

Also frustrating for the Blue Jays is surely losing another pitcher to injury, especially one who had been rolling as well as Stripling had been. But as always, Montoyo said, today’s lesson in baseball is, “You can never have enough pitching.”

“Today, we lost a good pitcher,” Montoyo said. “We’ll see how long we’re going to lose him for but, we’ll see, hopefully, it’s not too long. Now, for sure Matz is going to make that next start and we’ll see where Ross is.”

(Photo of Ross Stripling: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)