The Toronto Blue Jays entered Boston on Monday looking to turn things around after being swept by the New York Mets this past weekend. José Berríos was strong out of the rotation in the first contest, while the bats kept producing singles to help the Jays get back in the win column. For Tuesday, manager John Schneider was turning things over to Easton Lucas to keep the momentum going, a southpaw who was coming off his first Major League start last week against the Nationals.

Boston was going to be a tougher test for the left-hander compared to Washington – even though the likes of Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers bat on the same side as his arm – the Red Sox also feature other potent names in Trevor Story and Alex Bregman, who can do damage from the right side of the plate. Factor in that Lucas was also going to be facing Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet on the other side of the bump, as well as at Fenway Park, and it seemed like the odds were stacked against the California product.

However, when the dust settled, it was Easton Lucas who stood victorious.

The left-hander was in control through the entire outing, generating weak contact time and time again while striking out eight and allowing just three hits on a cold night in Boston. He started the outing by striking out Duran and Devers on 11 pitches and getting Alex Bregman to fly out to right field on the first pitch he saw. 12 pitches and a clean first inning.

Lucas continued to sail through his start, punching out Rob Refsnyder and Trevor Story to start the second inning. He ran into a bit of a jam in the third, with a single and a walk with two outs putting a runner in scoring position, but Lucas was unfazed, getting Devers to chase a low fastball for a forceout at third. He would allow two more singles on the day and punch out four more batters (including Duran for a second time) before being lifted in favour of Chad Green in the sixth inning when a trio of right-handed bats were due up following a Devers single. It was an impressive night for Lucas, who held the Red Sox to zero runs while generating 12 swings and misses on the day, besting Crochet by one. The lefty also finished with a 69.5% strike rate and was sitting in the mid-90s with his fastball despite the cold weather.

The Jays’ starter twirled another strong outing, keeping his ERA at a tidy 0.00 while his WHIP sits at 0.677 with a 1.81 FIP. A 9.6 K/9 and a 2.6 BB/9 continue to be one of the driving forces behind his success out of the gate, but he gets there by mixing his pitches well and continuing to replicate his release points. While he sat at a 20% whiff rate on his fastball (20 swings, five misses), his offspeed offerings saw an increase in whiffs, albeit with fewer pitches swung at. His changeup generated a 33% whiff rate on six pitches, and his sweeper & slider combined sat at 50%.

Either the Red Sox were sitting fastball and just not picking up his other pitches, or the movement and mixing of his pitches kept them off balance, as Lucas struck out batters on a 50/50 split when it comes to his fastball versus the sweeper/slider. The changeup was used to mix in the different speeds but didn’t result in a K this outing. While both were strong appearances, this start differs quite a bit when compared to his first, as the sweeper/slider against the Nationals generated zero whiffs on five swings while his fastball sat at 35% (15% higher than the Red Sox outing), and his changeup was sitting again at 33%. The mix was used similarly, but the result of the strikeouts came via the Nationals missing on a high fastball each time (Nathanial Lowe was two of the three K’s – he didn’t fair well against Lucas) versus the sweeper and slider.

Whatever Lucas is doing on the mound is working for the Blue Jays and is keeping the opposing bats off balance while he goes five-plus innings. From a stopgap replacement when Scherzer went on the IL to a turning point trending towards a ‘this guy belongs here’ narrative, Lucas is doing all the right things to continue starting games for the Toronto Blue Jays, which comes in handy considering the triple-A depth is proving to be lacklustre at the moment. He has faced two stellar arms in Mackenzie Gore and now Crochet and emerged the victor both times, a feat difficult to accomplish.

Another test awaits Lucas, as the left-hander is poised to face the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, considering the current schedule. It’s unlikely he’ll keep up this pace of zero earned runs for much longer, but another strong outing against a division rival is going to force some tough questions moving forward, especially when Scherzer is healthy and ready to go. This is a similar scenario that fell into the Blue Jays’ lap late last year with Bowden Francis – strong outings continued to pile up, and there was no reason to move Francis from the rotation if he was going to keep flirting with the no-hitter.

If Lucas can continue to limit the hard contact and generate double-digit swing and misses start after start, there should be no reason to move him from the rotation. A question that will need to be tackled down the line when Scherzer is healthy, but a problem that is better to have than not for a team like the Blue Jays looking to contend this season.