Cesar Valdez performs minor miracle in unlikely outing for Blue Jays

TORONTO — When the Toronto Blue Jays tabbed Cesar Valdez to start Tuesday against the Oakland Athletics, the outing came with non-existent expectations.

And yet, when he came off the mound two hours later after finishing his day, the Rogers Centre crowd treated him to a standing ovation brimming with genuine enthusiasm. The 40,624 in attendance weren’t recognizing a flawless outing – though six innings of one-run ball is nothing to sneeze at – they were acknowledging the sheer improbability of the performance.

“We didn’t know what to expect, he’d pitched a couple times in the last couple days. But we couldn’t have asked for a better outing,” manager John Gibbons said of Valdez. “Good for him he’s been grinding it out over the years.”

Valdez fits the profile of a pure emergency starter. He’s a 32-year-old who was signed by the A’s as a minor-league free agent in the off-season and claimed off waivers by Toronto in May. As recently as 2015, he was plying his trade in the Mexican league.

“I’ve played everywhere. I’ve been everywhere in the big leagues and minor leagues,” Valdez said through translator Josue Peley. “Coming off the mound today and having the fans screaming and congratulating me was something really nice.”

Not everyone in the crowd knew about Valdez, but it was apparent he was an underdog from his first pitch. His 6.05 ERA was plastered all over the stadium prior to the game. He didn’t crack 90 on the radar gun. More astute observers would have noted he didn’t really feature a breaking pitch of any kind – throwing 88 mph fastballs and 82 mph changeups, with just four sliders in his 77 pitches.

Even against a 44-56 Athletics team, thinking Valdez had a shot to outduel the heavily-scouted Sonny Gray was a fool’s hope. What the Blue Jays were really wishing for was a few innings.

Since the All-Star break, the Blue Jays bullpen has pitched more innings than any team in baseball. With the exception of Marcus Stroman, the team doesn’t have a starter they can count on for six frames right now.

Valdez presented a seriously imperfect solution to this problem. The right-hander entered Tuesday night’s action with three career starts under his belt – two of them coming in 2010 and none of them lasting more than five innings. In total he’d allowed 10 earned runs in 13 innings as a major-league starter.

Somehow, Valdez provided both the innings the Blue Jays desperately needed and the kind of performance they’ve too-rarely seen this season, striking out four with a single walk allowed. It was the first quality start of his career and his first win since his MLB debut 2,640 days ago.

“I never thought of [the time between wins]. When you get to the big leagues, you don’t think about stuff like that,” Valdez said. “I’m just glad the Blue Jays gave me the opportunity to be back in the big leagues and gave me a chance to get a win, and I hope I get a chance again.”

So, how did he pull off such an unlikely feat?

For one, he got solid defence behind him with a pair of double plays early on that kept his pitch count down. However, he also deserves credit for his command.

Against left-handers, he did an excellent job of staying low and away while trying a couple of choice sliders down-and-in when ahead in the count.

Against right-handers the pattern isn’t quite as deliberate, but Valdez still managed to keep the changeup down while pounding the zone with fastballs – an admittedly dangerous tactic for a velocity-deficient arm.

All four of his strikeouts came on the changeup, a pitch he’d thrown an astounding 54.6 percent of the time coming into the game – by far the most among pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched in 2017.

Whether it’s the fine defensive support or the command of the changeup, nothing Valdez did on Tuesday is predictive of the kind of results he can expect going forward. A lengthy career spent primarily in the minors is far more instructive as to his potential.

For one night, though, he gave the Blue Jays exactly what they needed, which is more than they ever could have hoped for.

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