In 1893 the pitching distance was set at the magical distance of sixty feet, six inches. Like the distance of ninety feet between the bases, it seems a perfect distance for its purpose, which suggests, if you didn’t already believe it, that the game of baseball was invented by the gods. But the gods, as you well know if you are up on your mythology, do not always dispense bounty. Sometimes they are tricksters, and send us trials for their own amusement. Sometimes they challenge us, to see how well we will do. Sometimes, as in Andre Alexis’ brilliant novel 15 Dogs, they may even bet on the outcome.
Thus it was that the gods sent us tonight’s Blue Jays-Diamondbacks game, which brought us gifts, but cruelties, as well.
Since 1893, when the aforesaid adjustment was made to the distance between mound and plate, the longest streak of starts in which the pitcher threw at least six innings and gave up five hits or less was ten straight. Last night, our bargain-basement ace broke that record, going six innings and giving up only two hits for his eleventh straight time this year. But instead of setting off firecrackers and dancing around the maypole in celebration of this astounding feat, the glory of the moment was as ashes in our mouths, for the Blue Jays lost the game. Also lost in the general gloom following the loss was the fact that Estrada’s major league-leading opponents’ batting average dropped to .164, with a couple of nobodies named Arrieta and Kershaw clocking in at .173 and .174 respectively.
Despite continuing his sustained brilliance tonight, Marco Estrada walked three batters, and, as is the way of the world, two of them came around to score, one on a home run by Yasmany Tomas. The three runs would be sufficient to put a damper on Estrada’s much-deserved pride in his accomplishments, as the Blue Jays hitters, whom the Gods sometimes invest with the strength of Hercules, wielded their bats instead like Cupids, and only posted two runs of their own.
In their beneficence, the gods also bestowed superhuman, nearly god-like powers on one unassuming young Californian with a neat beard named Kevin Pillar. He has two powers from the gods, one the ability to track down and secure batted balls that no human, or no human who cares about his own skin, should ever be able to catch. And he also has the power, on occasion, to dispatch lightning bolts with his bat, at the most opportune moment, to deliver runs for his team when they are most needed. Both of these gifts were on display tonight, but, as you can already see, the gods giveth, and they taketh away. The price that we faithful had to pay for seeing Kevin Pillar display his magic tonight was that we had to watch the rest of the Blue Jays’ lineup flail and fumble at the plate, wasting opportunities early to make a difference and give their teammates Estrada and Pillar the support that they so clearly deserved.
Tonight’s was an inter-league affair. The Diamondbacks, who I think represent Phoenix, and therefore must play in the NL West, though I’m not sure about that, are stacked with players who, other than Paul Goldschmidt, their slugging All-Star first baseman, are so unfamiliar to me that I noted their first names in my game notes, so that I would not have to constantly go back and look them up. Their road uniforms, a shimmering charcoal grey, a hue never seen before on a baseball diamond of my acquaintance, only add to the air of mystery that surrounds them.
That mystery extended to the performance of their starting pitcher, a left-hander named Patrick Corbin. Normally, a lefty pitching against the Jays at the TV Dome, in particular one with numbers going in like 3-6 and an ERA of 4.76, should be easy pickings for the Blue Jays hitters. However, on this night Patrick Corbin mysteriously took on the persona of a certain very short, very well-known Blue Jays’ starter, and threw 12 ground ball outs of the 19 outs he generated in six and one third innings of work. Yes, Corbin’s similarity to Marcus Stroman tonight was almost complete, except that he’s left-handed, he’s six foot, three inches tall, and he’s as composed as an accountant (with apologies to any CPAs out there who might be following along.)
It’s not like Corbin was really dominant. He gave up nine hits, walked three, only struck out three, and never pitched a clean inning. But besides giving up the two runs to Pillar in the fourth, he was really only in trouble twice, both times after Ezequiel Carrera, who becomes more electric with each passing game, went first to third on a base hit . In the third, with two outs, he was left by Edwin Encarnacion who grounded out to the third baseman. In the seventh, with one out, he was stranded when Josh Donaldson broke his bat into splinters grounding into a double play. The Donaldson double play was actually induced by righty Jake Barrett, who was called in to put out the fire Corbin had set alight in his last inning of work.
Tyler Clippard followed with a clean eighth inning, and Daniel Hudson earned his first save with a clean ninth, as the D-Back relievers retired all seven batters they faced to preserve the win for Corbin. On the other side of the mound, Manager John Gibbons pulled Estrada after six innings and 88 pitches because of some apparent back tightness, which at this point is said to be nothing to worry about. Jesse Chavez pitched the seventh, and gave up a home run to Peter O’Brien, who thereby atoned for his very awkward performance in left field. Having done his job at the plate, O’Brien was then mercifully pulled for defensive purposes by Arizona manager Chip Hale. To be fair, O’Brien is a reputedly competent catcher pressed into emergency outfield duty, and was making only his eighth start in the outfield in his career.
After the Chavez gopher ball, he retired the last two he faced in the seventh, Jason Grilli blew the D-Backs away on ten pitches in the eighth, and Roberto Osuna struck out the side in the ninth. No Arizona hitter’s foot ever safely touch a base after O’Brien’s blast, but it was too late to save Estrada, Pillar, and their desultory supporting cast.
Finishing where I started, on the mythological theme, the gods as is their wont always give a little dagger along with the gifts they bestow from time to time on us mortals. In the case of Marco Estrado, it was the inability to throw strikes to Arizona’s leadoff hitter Jean Segura. In the case of Kevin Pillar, it was the little devil in his ear who told him to try to steal third with two outs and the left-handed Carrera at the plate, after his two-RBI double, a misguided adventure that ended the only inning in which the Jays had scored. Let that be a lesson to our Kevin: you may make a miraculous catch, and you may deliver at the plate with ducks on the pond, but you may not make the third out at third base. Saith the gods.
As for the team, the dagger of the loss came with what would otherwise be delightful news: every other team in the division also lost tonight, so while the home boys didn’t yield any ground by losing, they blew a chance to gain on everybody else.
Tomorrow we go to see for ourselves. May we witness the end of the current Arizona winning streak of five, which would also signify the end of the current Toronto losing streak of four! The gods be willing.
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