TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays are expected to be without left-handed reliever Brett Cecil for the rest of the postseason after he tore a left calf muscle during a rundown play in the eighth inning of the Jays' 6-4 loss to the Texas Rangers in Game 2 of their American League Division Series.
"He's got a pretty significant tear in his calf,'' Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of the 28-year-old Cecil, whose 2.48 ERA in 63 appearances was the lowest among Jays relievers.
Cecil had worked in each of the first two games of this series, pitching a scoreless eighth inning in Game 1, then entering again in the eighth Friday in relief of starter Marcus Stroman after Delino DeShields led off the inning with a single to center. Shin-Soo Choo sacrificed DeShields to second, and Cecil struck out the left-handed-hitting Prince Fielder before Rangers manager Jeff Banister sent up Mike Napoli, a right-handed hitter, to bat for Mitch Moreland.
Napoli was just 2-for-17 with seven strikeouts against Cecil, having faced him numerous times while playing for the Boston Red Sox, the team that sent him to Texas at the trade deadline. This time, Napoli singled to center, bringing home DeShields with the run that tied the score at four.
Cecil subsequently picked Napoli off first base, but in the ensuing rundown, after taking a throw from shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Cecil tore the calf muscle while in pursuit of Napoli, whom he tagged out for the final out of the eighth. He limped off the field at the end of the inning.
"Cece has been facing Napoli for years now, and he's really held him in check," Gibbons said when asked why he didn't order Cecil to walk Napoli with first base open. "He's never really done much against him because he's got that good curveball. Cece is one of those guys, [who can match up against both] right-handed or left-handed [batters]. It really doesn't matter.
"He's probably the hottest reliever in baseball right now. He's like [Texas reliever [Jake] Diekman. It really doesn't matter who he's facing, and he's seen him plenty of times and he's held him in check. I think he just threw a curveball, the one that doesn't have a whole lot of bite to it.''
Cecil had not allowed an earned run in his past 37 appearances dating to June 24, striking out 44 while walking just four in 31⅔ innings. Opposing hitters batted .116 against him in that stretch, and of the 16 runners he inherited, only four scored.
Cecil was in the Jays' clubhouse after the game, dressing at his locker, but a Jays publicist said he was not available for comment until Saturday's workout.