Although the Blue Jays took a hard earned series victory against the AL Central-leading Guardians on Sunday, the game didn't go as smoothly as the team would've liked.
The Blue Jays were leading 7-4 going into the top of the 9th when Yimi Garcia, who's arguably been Toronto's best reliever in an underperforming bullpen took over for Brendon Little. He gave up a leadoff single before a two-run homer to Brayan Rocchio with his velocity slightly down from usual on his fastball. After giving up the homer, Nate Pearson managed to get the final out and the Jays held onto win 7-6. In his post-game availability to the media, John Schneider stated that Garcia was dealing with elbow soreness and 'we'll see how he is tomorrow.'
Losing Garcia, would be massive blow an underachieving bullpen specifically the back end. Closer Jordan Romano is currently on the injured list with elbow soreness but he has resumed throwing from 90 feet and Garcia was covering in his absence. If he were to miss time, the next in line for the closer's role would be Chad Green having spent some time doing so with the Yankees. Even Tim Mayza has had experience of taking over closer's duties, but he has struggled immensely this season posting a 5.48 ERA in just 21.1 innings.
The other question is who would come up with the team if Garcia goes on the IL? One candidate could be Erik Swanson, who was sent down for Green, however his struggles have continued with Triple A Buffalo with a 7.27 ERA in 8.2 innings of work. The other candidate could be Ryan Burr, who was sent down for Bowden Francis where he's posted a 2.45 ERA with 3.2 innings pitched. The Blue Jays will be hoping for the best case scenario with Garcia's MRI because it would be devastating if he were to go on the injured list, especially with the season he's having so far.