It turns out that “TBA” is, with apologies to Dennis Lee, the Secret Tiger Name of Anibal Sanchez. By the way, does anyone read Lizzie’s Lion to their three- or four-year-olds any more? It’s a violent, bloody story of just retribution, probably far too gruesome and gory for today’s gentle parenting style. It’s delightful. I highly recommend it.
Any Tiger team that has to pull the name of the Ghost of Anibal Sanchez Past out of a hat to find a starting pitcher is in deep doo-doo indeed. In fact, any team that has to follow Justin Verlander in their rotation with, no insult intended, the likes of journeyman Mike Pelfrey, young prospect Matt Boyd, and the Anibal Sanchez of 2016, is generally in deep trouble. To be fair, of course, Jordan Zimmerman is currently on the DL, and we are fortunate to have missed being stonewalled again by Michael Fulmer.
Following that introduction, you might think that Dickey’s gift from the gods referred to in today’s headline is a reference to the fact that he was pitching against the Tigers’ Sanchez. But no, that would be a bit mean-spirited, even for me. On the most obvious level, Dickey’s gift in general is the ability to throw that crazy knuckleball effectively, because when he can do it, he’s just a helluva pitcher. Today, for example, when he went seven innings, giving up one run, and five hits, while walking two and striking out five, with some of the strikeouts coming at crucial moments.
More specifically, today he was gifted for the second start in a row with run support, after spending the entire spring sitting on the bench muttering to himself “my kingdom for a base knock!” Last Tuesday he went seven against Kansas City while his team-mates put up eight big ones for him. Today, he went seven while they scored six for him. That’s 14 runs in his last two starts. Too bad he can’t bank some of them for the seven lean starts that are sure to be in his future.
His greatest gift of all today came from his perpetual battery mate and Chief Accumulator of Bruises Taken for the Team, Josh Thole. Normally, nobody asks for more of Josh Thole than that he stop most of Dickey’s crazy pitches, and that he stay healthy enough to keep Russell Martin safely on the bench when Dickey starts. On the offensive side, we feel that he’s done more than enough if he just manages to get a sac bunt down when it’s needed. So what could Dickey possibly say to his catcher today after he not only gave up the body in the usual manner, but went two for three on the day, and even drove in the first two runs of the game with a solid two-out single to centre in the second inning? How about, “Did I ever say you were my hero?” Uh, no, even R.A. Dickey, sensitive soul that he is, wouldn’t stoop that low.
So here we had a perfect formula for that one-game pre-All-Star-break winning streak I was hoping for: a sunny Sunday afternoon, a huge crowd, R.A. mesmerizing his opponents, the Jays’ hitters efficiently dispatching Anibel Sanchez, and Josh Thole becoming the sung (surely this is the opposite of “unsung”) hero of the game.
Dickey had smooth sailing for most of the way today. In typical Dickey fashion, one of his toughest innings was the first, as he gave up back-to-back one-out singles to Cameron Maybin and Miguel Cabrera. Victor Martinez then bounced one up the middle that deflected off Dickey and headed toward Devon Travis at second. Too late for the double play, or even the force, Travis had to go to first to get Martinez. With the dangerous Nick Castellanos up and runners at second and third, we faced a tense moment even before getting any licks off Sanchez, but Dickey took care of that by fanning Castellanos to end the inning.
Dickey gave up his only run in the fifth, when James McCann’s bounce-out to second scored Mike Aviles, who had tripled to lead off the inning. After getting the second out, Dickey gave up a second triple to Ian Kinsler, and walked Maybin, just so he could try his luck with Cabrera with two outs and runners on the corners. Cabrera obliged him by looping an easy little flare to right for the third out. By the time he got to his roughest inning, it should be pointed out, Dickey was sitting on a 5-0 lead, so a bit of a letdown might have been expected. McCann was the only other runner to reach after the fifth, with a one-out walk in the seventh, and Dickey wrapped up his day having thrown a tidy 91 pitches.
In the eighth Jesse Chavez and Cecil, brought in to face Victor Martinez with two outs, were clean on only ten pitches. Bo Schultz came in again to wrap things up. It seems like he’s become Manager John Gibbons go-to guy to keep the lid on in non save situations, and he managed it again today, though with a bit of fuss involved before tying it down. With one out he gave up a single to Justin Upton, and walked Mike Aviles, and then saw them move up while he handled a come-backer to him by McCann. But with runners on second and third and two out, Jose Iglesias grounded out to second and the game was in the bag.
As for Sanchez, we can’t say that the Jays rode him out of town on a rail, but he did give up 5 runs on 8 hits in four innings, and wasn’t going to come back for the fifth with 92 pitches in the books, down 5-0 at the end of four. The funny thing is, in sympathy with Sanchez, and with the Tiger fans watching him, these four innings must have provoked the same kind of agony that we experienced over the course of so much of the early part of the season with the Jays’ offence. That is, that we were always holding our breath to see if they might come through with a hit with runners in scoring position and two outs.
After he retired the Jays in order in the first, for three innings in a row Anibal Sanchez got into trouble trying to get the third out. As Ernie Harwell used to say, “and all this happened after two were out!” In the second, he did start out in the hole, giving up hits to Troy Tulowitzki and Kevin Pillar. But then he fanned Devon Travis, but walked Justin Smoak to load the bases. When he struck out Darwin Barney, he must have felt pretty close to the finish line, with only the weak-hitting Thole to dispose of. But as we already mentioned, Thole turned the tables on him, and the Jays had a 2-0 lead for Dickey to work with. It was small consolation to Sanchez that he fanned Zeke Carrera to strand the other two runners, and complete striking out the side.
In the third he gave up a leadoff single to Josh Donaldson, who was immediately erased when Michael Saunders, hitting third today, grounded into a double play. Two outs and nobody on. But then he gave up a hard smash off the wall in left to Tulo, hit so hard that he was held to a single, and a single to Pillar, before getting Travis to pop out to second.
The fourth inning had to be the worst for poor Sanchez though. He caught Smoak looking. Barney grounded out to second for the second out, bringing up—guess–who Josh Thole. And Sanchez walked the dangerous Thole. (I’m not trying to be disrespectful to Thole, here. I’m just trying to see things from Sanchez’ perspective.)
Carrera singled to left, bringing up Donaldson, and of course nemesis tapped Anibal on the shoulder and intoned sepulchrally, “Remember me?” Donaldson crushed one to left for three more runs. Sanchez fanned Saunders just to make it easier on his manager, and was finished for the day.
The way Dickey was pitching, the five runs were more than enough for the win. They added an extra in the eighth off left-hander Kyle Ryan, who loaded the bases on singles by Barney and that guy Thole, a move-em-up ground-out by Carrera, followed by an intentional pass to Donaldson. Stung by the insult, Michael Saunders cashed in Barney with a single to left. Ausmus then called on former Jay Mark Lowe, who’s been struggling since he signed the big contract with the Tigers, and Lowe responded by retiring Tulo and Pillar to leave the bases loaded.
We should mention that today’s game saw the debut for the Tigers of a rookie right-hander from Regina, Dustin Molleken, who was first out of the pen to replace Sanchez in the fifth. Though he struggled a bit, he kept the Jays off the board for two and two thirds innings, giving up 3 hits, two walks, and striking out three, on 44 pitches. There have been worse debuts. He’s big and strong, and that’s always a good start.
The Blue Jays head into the All-Star break feeling pretty good about themselves. Five of them are off to San Diego for the game itself, Donaldson, Encarnacion, Saunders, Marco Estrada, and Aaron Sanchez. The rest scatter for a few days of well-earned R and R, everyone to reconvene Friday evening for the first of three in Oakland. We’re tied for second with Boston in the division, tied with Boston for the two wild-card slots, and only two games behind the Orioles, who, rumour has it, are already shopping for some desperately-needed starting pitchers. Yer humble scribe says they better open up the vaults and buy a bunch while they’re at it, or they’re going to be looking up at the Toronto and Boston behinds pretty soon.
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