Off game ends Stripling's strong first half

Ross Stripling’s season has a big, bright line that divides the “before” and “after.” Back on May 19, Stripling got rocked by the Red Sox, allowing three home runs as his ERA shot up to 7.20. Since then, he’d been brilliant, putting up a 2.35 ERA over his last eight outings.

In Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field, he looked a bit like the old Stripling, with three home runs against him over a short 3 2/3-inning start. The right-hander’s impressive turnaround has earned him plenty of trust, though, including the trust that this was just an outlier. Now one game away from the All-Star break with a postseason race ahead of them, the Blue Jays need the “after” version of Stripling to stick around.

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There’s plenty that has gone into Stripling’s turnaround, from a lower hand placement in his delivery to an effort to limit his pitch tipping and several other things he surely doesn’t want broadcast to opposing hitters. An uptick in velocity has helped, too, which wasn’t exactly there on Saturday as all four of his pitches were below his season averages. When Stripling has been on and pitching confidently, having a little extra life on his fastball and slider has allowed him to attack hitters in a way he simply wasn’t doing during his early season struggles.

“After he made that adjustment, he’s been one of our best pitchers for sure,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “Today, he didn’t have his best stuff. He battled, he made some mistakes, and of course he paid the price, but today was his worst outing since Boston way long ago. That’s going to happen. I’m sure this rest is going to help him out, and he’ll be sharp for the second half.”

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of Stripling’s turnaround to the bigger picture of the Blue Jays’ pitching staff, too. Just like Alek Manoah’s arrival, it raises the question of whom Toronto would turn to if Stripling hadn’t stepped forward. With No. 1 prospect Nate Pearson dealing with recurring groin injuries and Thomas Hatch just recently activated from the 60-day IL, the Blue Jays’ options have been thin beyond their current starting five.

Coming into the season, Stripling held a rotation spot that seemed to come with a ticking clock attached to it. Surely, someone like Pearson, Manoah or Hatch would eventually overtake him, moving Stripling into a swingman role that felt like a sensible transition earlier this season. Coming off the past two months, though, Stripling has put himself in a position where he’s not one tough outing away from a change. He’s locked into his rotation spot, so the game of adjustments will continue into the second half.

Stripling is confident he can carry over his success from the past two months, but the second half has the added challenge of fatigue as pitchers ramp back up to a full schedule. Stripling owns career ERAs of 4.58 in August and 4.86 in September and October, so he’s focused on putting himself in the right spot physically for the stretch run.

“August has never been a good month for me, but I feel good now, so I’ll use this break to get my body into a good spot,” Stripling said. “Not that it’s in a bad one, but I’ll certainly come out of the break feeling good physically. I’ll keep attacking like I’m doing, pitch with confidence and trust the stuff. I think I’m definitely confident with that now. It’s about making sure my body is in the right place to handle this workload going into 100-plus innings fighting in an AL East division that’s really tough. Our schedule coming out of the break isn’t easy, so we’ve got to come out ready to roll."

The Blue Jays’ bats didn’t give Stripling or the bullpen much help, instead running up against their nemesis, Ryan Yarbrough. The lefty came into Saturday owning a 2.38 career ERA against the Blue Jays, and he always seems to give this lineup fits, so it wasn’t surprising to see him add another chapter to that. Marcus Semien’s 22nd home run of the year -- a Statcast-projected 418-foot shot to left field in the third inning -- represented the entire offense. Toronto couldn’t string anything together after that.

Sunday’s series finale is a big one for the Blue Jays before heading into the break, and they’ll like their chances with Robbie Ray on the mound. The gap between Toronto and the Red Sox in the AL East is a tall mountain to climb, but if the Blue Jays hope to make some noise in the Wild Card race, that might run right through Tampa Bay.