Blue Jays pitching change backfires and Buck Martinez disagrees with it

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider is going to have some questions to answer after Wednesday’s game.

Trailing 1-0 in their best-of-three series versus the Minnesota Twins, Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios took the mound in the do-or-die outing. The 29-year-old was sharp early on in this outing, with the key emphasis being early on, as he wound up being pulled just 47 pitches in despite having not yet allowed a run.

With left-handed batter Max Kepler stepping up to the plate, Schneider chose to pull Berrios in favour of Yusei Kikuchi with zero outs in the fourth inning. The move immediately backfired, as Kikuchi allowed two to score in what had been a scoreless ballgame. It was such a baffling decision that even Jays colour commentator Buck Martinez voiced his displeasure.

“It’s unfortunate, there’s no reason for [Berrios] to come out of that game,” a frustrated Martinez said. “You didn’t know what Kikuchi was going to do and you know what Berrios was doing at that time. There was no reason to make the change.”

Buck Martinez isn’t a fan of the #BlueJays pitching change today, taking out Jose Berrios in the 4th:

“There’s no reason for him to come out of that game. You didn’t know what Kikuchi was going to do, you knew what Berrios was doing. There was no reason to make the change.” pic.twitter.com/4SMIbNZadW

— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) October 4, 2023

Later on, Martinez was still baffled by the decision and stated that he thought it helped take a burden off of the Twins, who weren’t able to get anything going against Berrios.

“The analytics might suggest it was the right move and the results might not follow up, but as far as the psychological burden taken off the Twins, when he left, they’re going ‘Okay, he’s out of the game. We couldn’t do anything against him, he’s gone.'” Martinez explained. “I don’t care who they bring in next, the Twins feel better about it than having to deal with Berrios.”

More Buck Martinez on the #BlueJays‘ early pull:

“The analytics might suggest it was the right move, and the results might not follow up, but as far as the psychological burden taken off the Twins… I don’t care who they bring in next, the Twins feel better about it than having… pic.twitter.com/MPZyocZHvI

— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) October 4, 2023

For Schneider’s sake, there is still time left in this ballgame, and he will be praying that the Jays are able to string together some offence in order to even this series up. If not, he and his team will be headed home early, and there could be some serious questions that pop up surrounding his future as this club’s manager.

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