Why Louis Varland didn’t pitch tonight for Blue Jays despite 1-run lead originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Toronto Blue Jays took a one-run lead to the bottom of the ninth inning in Baltimore on Friday night against the Orioles.
Despite that, Louis Varland was still sitting out in the bullpen with his hoodie on.
Jeff Hoffman was out there, too. So was Tyler Rogers.
The guy coming into the game was Braydon Fisher, and while Fisher got the job done, it definitely took a few fans by surprise.
Why didn’t Louis Varland pitch?
Varland was being given the night off.
The same was true for Hoffman and Rogers.
Teams don’t love to give relief pitchers three days in a row. Because Varland had thrown on both Wednesday and Thursday, he was given Friday off.
Varland threw a combined 29 pitches between those two appearances, so not an insane amount, but just enough to rest him.
Besides, if he had pitched three days in a row, he would’ve been off Saturday and an iffy option for Sunday.
This was, if the Blue Jays need to come back with Varland for back-to-back games on the weekend, they can do so — and they’ve got the rest of their bullpen well-rested, too.