All in all, Aaron Sanchez’s 2019 debut was a reassuring one for the BlueJays (ArdenZwelling)
fired up on the mound. For the right reasons, at least. He’s been frustrated on the mound. He’s been angry. He’s been aching and disheartened. He’s pitched hurt, without his best stuff, without a feel for where his pitches are going, or how they’ll come out of his hand.
Sanchez was certainly fired up early, letting out a roar after getting Niko Goodrum to swing through a full-count fastball with two on and two out in the first. That debut inning wasn’t Sanchez’s smoothest, as he fell behind Nick Castellanos before surrendering a single, and left a curveball up to Miguel Cabrera, who might have put it in the seats if the year was 2013.
So, seeing some big velocity numbers up on the scoreboard was encouraging. But the high pitch total running alongside wasn’t. Sanchez needed 18 pitches to get out of that first frame, a dozen to work around a leadoff walk in the second, and 20 to strand a pair of runners — including another leadoff walk — in the third.
But in a bit of surprise, Sanchez emerged from the dugout for the sixth, looking to extend his outing after both Marcus Stroman and Matt Shoemaker set a high standard, pitching seven-inning scoreless gems to start Toronto’s season. But after Sanchez caught Cabrera on the hand with his second pitch of the inning — a 93-m.p.h. fastball — Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo came jogging out of the dugout to end his starter’s day.
That change-up is an effective pitch when it’s on — he used it 16 times Saturday, nine for strikes, and the Tigers never managed to put it in play — but it’s still Sanchez’s third-best pitch. He needs his curveball in order to be at his best.
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