Blue Jays Morning Brew: Pearce, Osuna, & Bautista

Your Toronto Blue Jays news and notes for Thursday, June 21st, 2012.

Pearce exits the game with a leg contusion

Steve Pearce can’t seem to catch a break lately, as he had to leave Wedneday’s game with a leg contusion after crashing into the left field wall. Joey Gallo ended up with an inside the park home run on the play, and insult to injury was added literally when Pearce had to leave the game after the inning.

The good news is that he had x-rays and they came back negative, so they avoided the worst case scenario at least. At this point he’s considered day to day, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could go back on the 10 day DL.

Osuna becomes the youngest closer to reach 75 saves

Roberto Osuna has been one of the better closer’s in the American League over the last 2 and a half seasons, so it’s really easy to forget that he’s still just 22 years old. He reached a significant milestone on Wednesday night when he collected his 75th career save, and became the youngest pitcher in baseball history to reach the mark.

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The Mexican born right-hander broke into the league in 2015 and took over closing duties after Brett Cecil and Miguel Castro failed to hold down the job. He took the gig and ran with it and has had it ever since.

Assuming he remains in the role throughout his career, the youngster has a chance to compile some pretty special numbers, especially since he took the role at such a young age.

There has been plenty of speculation throughout his career that he would eventually make his way into the rotation, but that talk was quieted down significantly this season. With Osuna wanting to remain in the role, combined with the success he’s had, it’s going to be very difficult to move him anywhere.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/877742261160857601

Bautista passes Barfield on All-Time Jays’ list

Jose Bautista has now started more games in right field than anyone in Blue Jays history. He made his 857th start as a Jay on Wednesday night, passing Jays’ legend, Jesse Barfield. Barfield expressed congratulations to “Joey Bats” on Twitter, in a classy gesture.

Bautista also lead off for the Blue Jays and promptly walked to open the game, which lead to a bat-around from the lineup in the first frame. Kevin Pillar was given the night off (prior to Pearce’s injury), so it remains to be seen if John Gibbons sticks with Bautista to lead off, or returns to Pillar, who has been in the role for the majority of the season. The latter has been struggling with the bat lately, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Gibbons slot Bautista on Thursday.

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