ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Given the rare opportunity to throw on one day's rest to try to hit the 200-inning milestone for the 15th consecutive season, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle felt the best he had in months. All he needed was two innings.
Buehrle didn't get there.
A combination of errors and five hits by the Tampa Bay Rays ended his day after just two outs. The popular veteran gave up eight runs, none of them earned, as he reached 198 2/3 innings and fell just short of joining Hall of Famers Cy Young, Warren Spahn, Don Sutton and Gaylord Perry in the record books.
"No way I could leave him out there to rot," manager John Gibbons said. "It's unfortunate. That's the way baseball is sometimes. He's had a tremendous three years here, another great year this year and we're all proud of him."
As he left the mound for what could be the final time as a major-league pitcher, Buehrle told Gibbons to keep the ball. Unlike Friday, he didn't tip his cap or acknowledge his family and never had the chance to soak in the moment.
"Giving up seven or eight runs you're not trying to tip your hat to anybody," Buehrle said after the Blue Jays' regular-season-ending 12-3 loss. "It's kind of embarrassing."
Teammates didn't think Buehrle had anything to be embarrassed about, and in particular outfielder Jose Bautista had no time for the argument that the Blue Jays shouldn't have started Buehrle with a chance at earning home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. In the end, it didn't matter because the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins.
"I really don't want to get on social media or start reading articles about how that wasn't the right move," Bautista said. "So I'm going to be the one to step ahead of all of that and say that that man deserved that shot that he got today to get 200 innings. It's just unfortunate he didn't get it done, unfortunately we didn't get the win and we didn't get the home-field advantage.
"But it is what it is. We're still a great team, division winners and we're just going to do what we need to do now to get going for the playoffs."
The Blue Jays will open the playoffs by facing the Texas Rangers in the American League Division Series starting with Game 1 Thursday. Buehrle has already been told he won't be on the roster for at least the first round.
Buehrle understood that he wasn't going to be a part of the starting rotation, which will be made up of David Price, Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada and R.A. Dickey.
"They made the right decision," Buehrle said. "Those guys have been throwing the ball way better than I am, so they're deserving to be on the roster."
Disputing a report that came out of Chicago on Sunday, the 36-year-old said he hadn't made a decision to retire. That could be coming, but for now he'll stay ready in case a Blue Jays pitcher gets injured and he gets the call in the coming weeks.
Based on how he felt Sunday, Buehrle joked to bullpen coach Dane Johnson that perhaps he should have been part of a two-man rotation his entire career. More to the point, after struggling with general fatigue for a couple of months, the left-hander left the door open to playing in 2016.
"I'll try to start another streak next year, if that's possible," Buehrle said. "The way I felt today, anything can happen."
