Visits: 2
“That’s a pitch I always get him out with,” Osuna said, referring to his high, inside fastball at 94 miles per hour. “He hit it today but, I mean, I will go there 100 more times.”
Osuna, 23, has already made 17 career playoff appearances. He lost the decisive sixth game of the 2016 A.L.C.S. in Kansas City with Toronto, but otherwise had pitched well, with a 0.92 postseason E.R.A. before Tuesday. The Astros said they were not concerned about Tuesday’s implosion, and would happily turn to Osuna again.
“In no way, shape or form is that game on him,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “He’s been unbelievable since he’s been here — great teammate, competes, has a slow heartbeat. You want him in the game. When he gets in the game, we have all the confidence in the world in him.”
The Blue Jays signed Osuna, who was born in Juan José Ríos, Mexico, for $1.5 million in 2011 and brought him to the majors in April 2015, just two months after his 20th birthday. Luhnow, who grew up in Mexico City, had wanted him for years, engaging unsuccessfully with the former Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos and his successor, Ross Atkins.
“I followed his career since he was a phenom prospect in Mexico before the Blue Jays signed him,” Luhnow said on Tuesday. “I follow the Mexican players closely, because there aren’t many stars, and I’ve always wanted to get one. So I tried to trade for him when Alex was G.M. there a bunch of times, in every deal that we did with them, but he wouldn’t do it.
“And then last year at the deadline, I had a long conversation with Ross. He said he would listen, we talked, and their ask was extraordinarily high, as it should have been. They still had a lot of years of control, and he was the most accomplished young closer in the game.”
Those factors still applied this summer. Osuna cannot be a free agent until after the 2020 season, and in April became the youngest pitcher to record 100 saves. His career E.R.A. for Toronto was 2.87, with 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings.