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Blue Jays keep knocking down pitching-injury obstacles with imperfect bullpen days
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Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Thomas Hall
Aug 26, 2026, 23:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 26, 2026, 23:16 EDT
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TORONTO — They certainly haven’t been masterpieces, but the Blue Jays continue to nail these injury-necessitated bullpen days.
One pitching-injury setback after another, blow after blow, the pitching staff could’ve waved the white flag at any time, and nobody would’ve blamed them. There’s been a lot to shoulder. Instead, they’ve kept on truckin’, with Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals serving as the latest example.
Shane Bieber, of course, was originally supposed to make this start. But now that he’s on the 15-day injured list (right teres major inflammation), the Blue Jays enlisted yet another reliever-covered game — their 18th of the season, matching Trey Yesavage for the third-most starts on the team, behind only Kevin Gausman’s 23 (he hasn’t pitched here in nearly a month) and Dylan Cease’s 24.
Spencer Miles drew the start, his fifth of 2026, but this wasn’t exactly one of his sharpest outings — and understandably so, given the rookie hurler has already surpassed 80 innings with one month still left to play — as he almost threw as many balls (13) as strikes (20) and needed help from two other relievers to escape a third-inning jam.
After allowing a leadoff single to Tyler Tolbert, Brendon Little entered from the bullpen to face a pocket of lefties that included Kyle Isbel, Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone, as well as right-handed-hitting Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. — and he retired two of those four, while walking the other two. That loaded the bases with two outs for veteran catcher Salvador Perez, who, following the third pitching change of the frame, struck out against Chad Dallas.
“It’s a big strikeout there,” manager John Schneider said post-game.
Only a day after being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo, the 26-year-old righty found himself thrown into the fire yet again, which has happened a few times in his rookie campaign, a span of now four games. Those previous moments, like his major-league debut in Atlanta back in June (he replaced Mason Fluharty in the second inning with one out and Michael Harris II standing on second base), helped prepare him for Wednesday’s high-leverage situation.
“He knew exactly when he was coming in, and he made big pitches,” Schneider said. “That was about as good as Chad has been. Did exactly what we needed him to do.”
Dallas shifted into cruise control from there, excelling across 2.2 perfect innings with a career-high four strikeouts on the night. This was him at his best, attacking the strike zone with his three-pitch arsenal (cutter, sweeper, curveball).
The right-hander racked up swings and misses left and right, inducing nine whiffs on 19 swings (47 per cent), five via his sharp-breaking sweeper that punched out both Witt and Perez. He still managed to pitch efficiently, as well, landing 24 of his 37 pitches for strikes.
Earlier in his Blue Jays tenure, Dallas was trying to be too perfect. Instead of trusting his stuff, he focused too much on reaching for extra velocity or break on his pitches. Wednesday night, however, he just went out there and competed. Nothing more. Nothing less.
“If I stick to my stuff and don’t try to throw too hard or don’t try to make something move too much,” Dallas said, “something along those lines, just stick to to your stuff. I think it usually ends up in your favour.”
The rest of Toronto’s bullpen did its job after Dallas departed, too. In total, they used seven relievers and needed a four-out save from closer Louis Varland to pull it off. But it doesn’t have to be pretty, and most nights, it hasn’t. Heck, this game didn’t resemble a supermodel out of the gate.
At the end of the day, wins are wins. They don’t ask how, just how many, as the age-old saying goes. The Blue Jays will take it, now back within three games of the final AL wild-card seed, especially considering the immense blow they were dealt 24 hours ago.
Losing Bieber for multiple weeks, perhaps for the rest of the regular season, is the type of loss that should spell the end of this franchise’s resurgent post-season hopes. And yet, at least for one day, the ‘pen made sure it hasn’t. There’s continued perseverance and belief here… belief that they can somehow find a way out of this mess again.
“It’s huge what they’re doing for us,” said Nathan Lukes, whose three-run blast supplied all the offence needed versus the Royals. “Everyone sees it. The team sees it. What they’re doing is a lot. They’re all throwing a lot. Hopefully, we can give them some rest here soon.”
Another day will bring yet another pivotal test for this group. Thursday’s rubber match against Kansas City will see Spencer Arrighetti make his first post-trade start. But the recovering right-hander isn’t fully built up yet and will only be able to cover 75-80 pitches after throwing 61 last weekend in the Bronx.
Next week, when Bieber’s vacated rotation spot comes around again, the Blue Jays are hopeful that Jameson Taillon — who threw a bullpen session at the Rogers Centre before Wednesday’s game and will make a Triple-A rehab start on Friday — can return off the IL in Cleveland. He won’t be 100 per cent stretched out either, though, since his rehab assignment will be short-lived.
There’s still plenty of heavy lifting ahead for this already overworked bullpen. Hopefully, this will be the final time a full bullpen day — the Blue Jays, to their credit, are 11-7 during those affairs — is needed the rest of the way. Here’s looking at you, Mr. Injury Bug.
But even if it’s not, they’ve sort of mastered piecing together these types of messy nights.

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