DENVER – So Coors Field is a tough place to pitch, you say? Bah, not when you’ve got stuff like Aaron Sanchez, who continues to emerge as not only a legitimate starter in the big-leagues, but a front-line one at that. Already he’s forcing the Toronto Blue Jays to rethink the plan to transition him from the rotation to the bullpen at some point this year, with the talk now that he may be strong enough to hang in as a starter all year long.
To be certain the club’s potential targets ahead of the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline will revolve around decisions about his usage for the rest of the year, so the coming weeks will be particularly telling.
On a micro level, the way Sanchez tore through the Colorado Rockies in a 5-3 victory Wednesday afternoon was some tonic for the Blue Jays after Tuesday night’s 14-9 battle of attrition. He allowed only a run on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts over eight innings to help secure a series win and a 3-3 road trip, showing that even in altitude, a mid-90s heater, a vicious sinker and a hard curve play.
"You come into Colorado and you hear about the ball and what it does, this and that," said Sanchez. "After what happened (Tuesday) night, I just tried to keep my pitch count as low as I could going through the whole game. I felt like I had everything working, mostly sinkers, as it normally is, but when I needed to throw off-speed, I felt it was there."
Junior Lake staked Sanchez to a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI double off lefty Tyler Anderson, whose funky leg hitch augments a strong changeup, while a Josh Donaldson solo shot and Troy Tulowitzki RBI single in the third added on to that.
Sanchez gave up his only run in the fourth on Daniel Descalso’s RBI single, while Edwin Encarnacion collected RBI No. 70 this season with a single in the seventh that added more padding that would later be needed.
The Rockies’ only real threat at a big inning was put out in the bottom of the seventh, when with the bases loaded and one out, Sanchez induced a 4-6-3 double play grounder from pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn.
"We lived and died with the sinker and that was our gameplan going in," said Josh Thole, who called a fine game and added two hits and a walk. "He had great command of his fastball, had a good sinker, that’s why we were able to get some quick outs, early-count outs and groundballs."
A sign of how little trust manager John Gibbons has in his bullpen right now came in the eighth, when Lake and Thole worked consecutive walks to open the inning. Rather than use a pinch-hitter or ask Sanchez to bunt, Gibbons had his right-hander take a five-pitch strikeout with the bat on his shoulder, to avoid a potential double play. In the second inning, Sanchez collided with Anderson at first base trying to beat out an infield single, rolled to the ground and needed some time to recover on the field.
"When I landed I kind of scraped up my elbow, it was kind of in shock," said Sanchez. "When I hit it felt more like a bruise than anything, nothing too crazy."
The rally in the eighth promptly died out, but Sanchez responded with a boss bottom half, retiring the top of the Rockies order on 10 pitches. That was crucial with Jason Grilli, who recorded three key outs to stabilize Tuesday’s win, unavailable to bridge the gap to closer Roberto Osuna.
"That’s as good as you can pitch in a place like this. That’s what he’s capable of, the sky’s the limit, he just keeps getting better and better," said Gibbons, who feels Sanchez has most progressed with his command. "I look back on last year when he started the year as a starter, I don’t know how many walks a night he’d have, but it could blow up on him pretty good, he would get in those ruts and walk guys four straight and then the next guy would be three balls, no strikes. Now he might lose it, but he always seems to be able to get back into that count, go 3-0 and end up retiring the hitter. That’s what jumps out to me, but his curveball has definitely gotten better and his changeup is showing some progress."
Sanchez feels being able to keep his velocity all game long is his biggest leap forward, a product of what he feels might be his most important gain, the consistency of his delivery.
"Once you’re in your delivery it gives you the best opportunity to execute your pitch," he said. "That’s something we hammered out from spring training all the way to now. Obviously my breaking stuff, too. That’s always a huge plus. If you go to the plate as a hitter and you can eliminate pitches, that’s an advantage for them, so for me to be able to go out there and throw everything for a strike has been a benefit."
A benefit against the Rockies was the run Ryan Goins scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to make it 5-1. That extra run came in handy when Osuna gave up RBI doubles with Mark Reynolds and Daniel Descalso before striking out Cristhian Adames on a disputed check swing with the bases loaded to end it.
The Blue Jays dearly miss Sanchez in their bullpen – really, the only way to get a reliever as dominant as him is to put him back in the ‘pen – but he’s become far too vital to their rotation at this point. Therein lies part of the dilemma.
"He’s been doing it pretty much the entire season so far, he’s done a great job for us," said Donaldson, "especially to come into a ballpark like this that’s very hitter friendly, it was nice for him to go out there and have a pretty dominant start."
The other is Sanchez is quickly headed into uncharted territory. The eight innings Wednesday pushed him to a team-best 105.1 this year, four short of the 109.1 total frames he logged last year. In 2014, he established a career-high with 133.1 innings, and that minimal buildup is why his status in the rotation is a question at all. The Blue Jays are considering a spot start for Drew Hutchison during the upcoming homestand to build in some rest.
"I feel great," said Sanchez. "Overall, I’ve bounced back perfect between starts, they’ve given me the luxury of going on six and seven days in between starts at this point, hopefully we can just continue to do that."
To this point, however, Sanchez seems to be getting nothing but stronger, and not even the vagaries of Coors Field can get to him.