Louis

Varland

Varland struck out one in earning his 20th save. He’s fanned a batter in 15 straight appearances. He needed just nine pitches to get through this one, so he’ll be good to go on Sunday.

Varland had to work to pick up his 19th save of the season on Friday. After retiring the first two batters he faced, the righty allowed three straight hits, with the third being an RBI single by Jackson Merrill that drove in Luis Campusano to cut the Jays’ lead to 5-3. Varland would get Xander Bogaerts to ground out to end the threat, but the three hits he allowed are the most he has given up in any game this season. It wasn’t a pretty outing, but we’ll assume this is a one-off for Varland, whose ERA on the season now sits at 1.10 after being charged with the lone earned run.

Jeff Hoffman set him up with a scoreless eighth. Varland was feeling pretty strong tonight, averaging 99.6 mph with his fastball. He gave up a single to Dominic Canzone with one out in a 2-0 contest, but he then struck out Cal Raleigh and got Josh Naylor to ground out to end the game.

After taking a loss Sunday, Varland was back at it tonight and pitched around a single and a walk with one out, striking out Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio to end the game. He’ll get Tuesday off after this, potentially creating a save chance for Tyler Rogers of Jeff Hoffman.

Varland’s dominant run as the Blue Jays’ closer continues. He walked the first man he faced in the ninth inning before inducing a double play and a strikeout to end the game. Varland has 16 saves and an 0.84 ERA. He’s likely in line for his first All-Star game appearance next month.

What a gutsy performance by Varland. The 28-year-old right-hander was summoned in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and no outs with a three-run lead. A groundout brought a run in, but Varland escaped further damage with a strikeout and a flyout. He returned for the ninth to finish out the game and worked around an error to shut the door on the Cubs for his 15th save.

Varland blew away the Red Sox here. Not only did Varland strike out the side on his way to this save, he was just one pitch shy of an immaculate inning. He forced five swings-and-misses, sat 100 mph with his fastball, and has now given up just four runs through 40 innings so far this season. That’s good for 0.90 ERA to go along with 55 strikeouts and just 11 walks.

Varland was called upon to work the top of the ninth in a tie ballgame and wound up surrendering a go-ahead homer to Paul Goldschmidt. He’s given up three runs over his last three appearances after allowing just one earned run across 34 2/3 innings through June 7. He’s put together an outstanding first-half performance and will continue serving as Toronto’s primary closer.

Varland made mince meat of the heart of the Yankees’ order here and quickly washed away his rare, recent blemished outing. His velocity was up a tad here, averaging over 100 mph which is borderline unfair considering how effective he’s been this season. He’s only given up a run in one outing since the beginning of May and has ascended to one of the league’s most trusted closers in the process.

The Phillies took a 2-1 lead against Varland in the top of the ninth, but the Jays came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to win the game and make Varland 3-1 on the season. Jeff Hoffman pitched a scoreless seventh in a tie game tonight, but it probably won’t matter much what Hoffman does unless Varland blows a lead in the near future.