May 5, 2022

By Neil Munro

Canadian Baseball Network

Earlier this week, Jordan Romano became the first Canadian-born pitcher to be named the Reliever of the Month for earning his 10 saves in the month of April.

The Reliever of the Month Award was first handed out by Major League Baseball in 2017 to the reliever/setup-up man “who statistically stood out from all the rest during the month.” Prior to that, the monthly award was given to any pitcher, but the vast majority were presented to starting pitchers.

The Pitcher of the Month award was first presented in the 1975 season, but only in the National League. The American League finally followed suit with their own monthly awards in 1979. Before that time, a pitcher had to compete with every-day position players to receive the monthly recognition.

In his statistical resumé for April, Romano saved 10 games out of 11 opportunities, with an ERA of just 1.59 in 11 1/3 innings. He struck out 13 batters, while walking just two, and finishing the game in each of his 12 appearances. He also won one game in relief when the Blue Jays secured a 6-5 victory in 10 innings on April 26 against the Boston Red Sox.

Along the way, Romano set the Blue Jays’ team record for consecutive saves, breaking the previous mark of 25 set by Tom Henke back in 1991.

Here is a synopsis of Romano’s April performance:

April 8: Saved a 10-8 contest against Texas. Toronto came back after falling behind early in the season opener to give Romano a 10-8 lead going into the ninth inning. He closed out the game by setting down all three batters he faced, striking out two.

April 9: Saved a 4-3 game vs. Texas. The Blue Jays gave Romano a tight 4-3 lead in the ninth inning and he set down all three batters he faced.

April 11: Saved a 3-0 game vs. New York. This time he had a comfortable 3-0 lead as he closed out the game for save number three. This appearance set the Blue Jays’ record for consecutive saves (with 26) breaking the Tom Henke’s mark. This time, Romano needed the three-run cushion as was tagged for two base hits. He was aided by a double play to erase the threat. Since he had his last blown save on April 8, 2021, he had pitched for a full calendar year without a single miscue in relief.

April 13: He saved another game against the rival Yankees to preserve the 6-4 lead. He gave up one hit and struck out one batter.

April 15: Saved a 4-1 game vs. Oakland. He had another perfect inning to save the game, striking out two of the three batters he faced. The Blue Jays had given him a comfortable 3-0 lead to work with.

April 17: Saved a 4-3 game vs. Oakland. This time the game was closer as he preserved the Blue Jays’ narrow 4-3 lead to close out the game. He did give up one walk in this outing - his first in the new season.

April 21: Saved a 3-2 contest vs. Boston. After entering the game with another 3-0 lead, Romano decided to make the game dangerously close, surrendering two runs on a walk and a double. He got out of the inning by inducing two batters to hit ground balls to the infield.

April 22: Saved a 4-3 game vs. Houston. Entering the game in another close contest with the Blue Jays leading 4-3, he got his eighth save in eight attempts to run his consecutive team record to 31 saves. He again made the game interesting again by giving up two singles sandwiched between his three strikeouts.

April 24: Lost the game vs. Houston by an 8-7 score. Every good thing must eventually come to an end and his consecutive save streak was now over as he gave up a two-run walkoff home run to Jeremy Pena to blow a 7-6 lead. This was an extra-inning affair so the Astros started the inning with a runner on second base. Romano struck out the first batter he faced before giving up the round-tripper.

April 26: Won an extra-inning 6-5 game vs. Boston. The Blue Jays scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game 5-5 and send it into extra innings again. Romano entered the extra-inning game with a runner on second base once more, but this time set down three in a row with a pair of infield ground balls and a strikeout.

April 28: Saved a 1-0 game vs. Boston. He started a new save streak by preserving a tight 1-0 victory. After Romano allowed a single to Rafael Devers, George Springer mad a sparkling play in the outfield, robbing Enrique Hernandez of what seemed like a sure double. He closed out the nail-biter by fanning Jackie Bradley Jr.

April 30: Saved a 2-1 contest vs. Houston. Romano closed out April with his 10th save to preserve another close contest. He did set down all three enemy batters, but the final out came on a deep fly ball that managed to stay in the park.

It is interesting to note that Romano faced contending ball clubs in all of his 12 April appearances. In addition, eight of those games were tight one-run affairs. As well, he accomplished his feat in a month shortened by a late start to the season as a result of the owners’ lockout.

As indicated above, there was not really much opportunity for another Canadian pitcher to be named the Relief Pitcher of the Month, in that the award has only existed for five seasons. Had it been instituted sooner, some other Canadian relief aces would almost certainly have been winners as well. In fact, Eric Gagne (Mascouche, Que.) was actually named the NL Pitcher of the Month for his outstanding record in relief in June 2002. That month, Gagne saved 11 games (out of 11 opportunities) and he struck out 24 batters in 14 1/3 innings, posting a miniscule ERA of 0.63. He did not walk a single batter in his 13 pitching appearances that month.

In my “unbiased” opinion, Gagne and also Ryan Dempster should have been named Pitcher of the Month for two of their other outstanding monthly efforts.

In August 2003, Gagne collected 11 saves (out of 11 chances), while striking out an eye-popping 34 batters, in just 17 1/3 innings. He also won a game in relief while issuing just four walks and posting an ERA of 0.52 for the month. The monthly award was actually given to Mark Prior of the Chicago Cubs. He posted a won-loss record of 5-0 with an ERA of 0.69 in his five starts. He struck out 35 batters in 39 innings.

Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, B.C.) had perhaps an even more impressive effort in September 2005 (pitching for the Cubs). He had 13 saves in his 13 save opportunities with an ERA of 0.00 (not a misprint) in 15 2/3 innings. He struck out 19 batters and walked just five. That month, the award was given to Andy Pettitte of Houston (which at the time was a National League club). Pettitte had a record of 4-0 in six starts, with an ERA of 1.86 in 38 2/3 innings. He fanned 29 batters and walked just four.

Dempster had the most saves (13) in a month by any Canadian hurler during that month of September. Romano’s 10 saves marked the 11th time in which a Canadian relief pitcher had as many as 10 saves in a single month. Jeff Zimmerman (Kelowna, B.C.) was the first to make the grade, posting 11 saves with Texas in July 2001. Gagne turned the trick six times in all – 11 in June 2002 and August 2003 (as noted above) and he also had 11 saves in each of May 2003 and July 2004. He had 10 saves in August 2002 and June 2003. Most of those outings came during his incredible streak of 84 consecutive saves with the Dodgers that extended from 2002 to 2004. He was given the NL Cy Young Award for his 2003 campaign.

John Axford (Port Dover, Ont.) had 11 saves on two occasions – in July 2011 and in September 2012. Axford was named the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year in 2011 when he posted a league-leading 46 saves for the Milwaukee Brewers. Gagne won that award twice in his career (2003, 2004). Perhaps we’ll see Romano join that elite company this year (hopefully, in leading the Blue Jays to a World Series Championship).