#bullpen-struggles

#bullpen-struggles

Between the offseason and today, the Sox have signed or claimed nine relievers. Below are the stats for each: Everyone except Vasil and Castro (who was shut down for the season with a patellar tendon tear in June) has been optioned to the minors at least once this season. Vasil's and Altavilla's stats are the only anomaly from this putrid list, and Altavilla has been in Triple-A for the majority of his tenure with the organization.

Each of Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto, and , were unable to make plays that would've changed the outcome of the game, with the latter having the most difficult of the plays. Clayton Kershaw gave up four runs in the first inning due in part to Hernández's aforementioned error, but settled in well after that, ultimately leaving the game tied after five innings.

Every game means a little more now. Every mistake becomes more magnified and every success feels a little more triumphant. That's the nature of where the Toronto Blue Jays are at in this stage of the season. They lead the American League East as the calendar has flipped to September. But as they move into the final month of the regular season, that lead has shrunk down to a measly three games.

People got to step up. People got to do their job. We just got to get Hels right, manager Carlos Mendoza said. He has too good of stuff for them to take some really good swings on fastballs, really good takes on sliders. So we have to look back and see what we're missing, because for teams to have comfortable at-bats like that, something's going on here and we have to figure it out.