How did Marcus Stroman’s outing rank against other Blue Jays returns?

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher David Wells pumps his fist after winning his 20th game of the season, beating the New York Yankees 3-1 in Toronto, 21 September, 2000. Wells becomes the second oldest pitcher to win 20 games for the first time in his career at the age of 37. AFP PHOTO/Aaron HARRIS (Photo by AARON HARRIS / AFP) (Photo by AARON HARRIS/AFP via Getty Images)

8. David Wells – Year 1993

David Wells had an interesting career with the Blue Jays organization.

He was drafted out of high school in 1982 and originally came up through the organization as a starter. Once he climbed higher through the ranks he started bouncing back and forth between the bullpen and the starting rotation. Wells would make his debut in 1987 and be a playoff beast, making nine appearances out of the bullpen from 1989-1992, including four shutout outings over 4.1 innings during the 1992 World Series.

The Blue Jays released Wells during Spring Training in 1993 and he moved around the league over the next few years, but continually kept improving, leading to him being selected to the All-Star Game twice. When Roger Clemens demanded a trade out of Toronto, the Blue Jays re-acquired Wells for the 1999 season. Wells did not originally endear himself to fans as he made everyone well aware that he did not want to leave New York and has since stated it was the worst day of his career. During his second stint with the Blue Jays, he returned for two years and led the league in complete games in both seasons as well as wins in 2000. Although Wells left the club twice and had two returns, for this list we are just looking at his first return.

There was speculation that when Wells was released after the 1992 season it was due to a rift between him and management, so when he returned in 1993, he had something to prove. Wells would cruise through the first two-thirds of the game, including a dominating first inning that included striking out a pair and he carried a shutout through six innings. In the seventh inning the Blue Jays bats came alive as a Randy Knorr triple drove in Willie Canate with Roberto Alomar and Paul Molitor both doubling and tacking on two more runs in the inning. Wells would be removed with two outs in the seventh and the Tigers would not be able to regain the lead and Wells would drop his record to 10-7 on the year.

Pitching Line: 6.2IP | 7K | 3R | 3ER | 2BB | 7K

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