After boasting a relatively healthy pitching staff last year, the Toronto Blue Jays were dealt some tough blows when it was announced that Alek Manoah, Erik Swanson, and Jordan Romano would all begin the season on the injured list. Losing Manoah created an opportunity for Bowden Francis to slot into the rotation. With Swanson and Romano sidelined, this created a hole at the back end of the bullpen, as these two were relied upon in a lot of high-pressure situations all last year.

With these two relievers on the shelf, the Blue Jays called upon Nate Pearson, Mitch White, and Wes Parsons (who has since been DFA’d) to fill in the open spots within the relief corps for Opening Day. In losing both Swanson and Romano, the Jays’ coaching staff was going to need to turn to some of their other veteran arms late in games, with Chad Green appearing to be the go-to closer option during Romano’s absence.

One pitcher who deserves some credit out of the gate is right-hander Yimi García.

Blue Jays reliever Yimi García starting strong

García is no stranger to pitching late in games or when the situation on the mound has become difficult but he usually shares that responsibility with Swanson and Tim Mayza, with the southpaw handling left-handed batters. With the former Mariner not available, García has been saved for these situations to help the Blue Jays win ball games or keep the team in the game and so far, he has come through.

Through three outings, the Dominican product has allowed just one hit with two strikeouts while owning a 1.47 FIP and pitching to a 0.429 WHIP through 2 1/3 innings. Through the eight batters he has faced, García has held opponents to a .167 BAbip and has routinely generated soft contact fly-balls that have helped his team get out of tough situations.

In his first outing against the Rays, he replaced Trevor Richards after the right-hander allowed a single with one out on the board and he didn’t allow a hit or a run to score. García’s latest outing against the Yankees also put the right-hander in a tough spot, as he replaced Yusei Kikuchi in the sixth inning and was tasked with facing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton with one out. The Jays pitcher got the former AL MVP to strikeout swinging on four pitches and then got Stanton to fly out to right field to get the team out of the inning, with Ernie Clement clubbing a home run in the seventh which earned García his first win of the season.

His most impressive outing on the year arguably was his late-inning appearance in Houston last Tuesday.