GAME SEVEN, APRIL ELEVENTH, 2017:
BREWERS 4, JAYS 3:
NO PLACE LIKE HOME? WELL . . .
Conventional wisdom around town had it that the Blue Jays were lucky that so much attention was directed elsewhere in Toronto’s sporting world that their 1-6 start on the road would go un-noticed as they slunk into town to get ready for tonight’s home opener.
With the Maple Leafs cementing their first playoff spot in years, and the return of Kyle Lowry sparking an end-of-season resurgence that greatly improved the Raptors’ playoff pairing, no one would be paying much attention, it was thought, to the fact that the Jays were off to their worst start in team history. (Who remembers now that the 1977 Toronto Blue Jays went five and two in their first seven games? Those were the days, my friends . . . )
But the hockey and basketball excitement didn’t stop over 49,000 blue-festooned baseball fans from thronging the TV Dome tonight to greet their beloved ball team. Of course, given the difficulty of acquiring tickets for major Jays’ games, most of those lucky enough to score tickets for the opener weren’t expecting such a cloud of worry to be hanging over the proceedings when game day actually arrived.
On the other hand, Toronto sports fans in general, and especially Blue Jays fans, have come to be great rationalizers over the years. The two losses in Baltimore? Close games, could have gone either way. Wasn’t the first one almost a mirror of the Wild Card Game last year? In fact, would anyone trade the 2016 wild card win for a two-game sweep in Baltimore in April of 2017? No way, man!
And then there’s playing in Tampa Bay against the Rays. We’ve had a worse record against them than against any other team in the division in recent years, and it’s way worse in the horrid Orange Juice Cave, undeniably the worst stadium in major league baseball. So, hell, losing three out of four there? That’s almost a moral victory, eh?
Rationalizing baseball fans can live with their rationalizations, as long as there’s some hope that a team’s temporary slump is just that, and that things will work themselves out, soon.
And when better to start working things out than the home opener? Our guys love to play at home before their wildly enthusiastic fans in the friendly confines of a Dome that seems to suck deep hits right out of the yard, where you never have to worry about playing in the rain and cold. Surely this little stumble of a batting slump will work itself out once we get that huge Canadian flag rolled up, and it’s game on.
Baseball’s back in Toronto! Yay! Or not.
Definitely not, because the Blue Jays brought their cold bats right back to Toronto with them, and put them in the deep freeze as soon as they arrived home Sunday night, so that they’d be ready to underperform once again in the home opener.
Optimism rose as Jay Happ, who pitched well in a close loss in Baltimore last week, took the mound for the top of the first. Then Johnathan Villar smacked one hard, but right at Kevin Pillar. Next came Keon Broxton, hitting under a hundred. (Who are these guys, anyway?) For a who-dat hitting pocket change, Broxton sure pounded that 1-1 fast ball right down the pipe from Happ, rocketing it over the wall in left before you could blink.
If that was the end of it, you could kind of take it, since Happ’s a fly-ball pitcher who gives up his share of dingers—praise god it was a solo job, and all that, dare I say it, rationalization. And it was good that the fearsome Ryan Braun followed with a grounder to short for the second out. But then Travis Shaw—remember him?–slugged one deep to straightaway centre. But not to worry that it was over Kevin Pillar’s head. He was on the case. He’d get it, just like always. But, he didn’t. It continued to carry, bounced off the wall past Pillar, and Shaw ended up on third.
Then Happ got right fielder Domingo Santana to hit a grounder that could have got him out of the inning, but didn’t, because it was up the middle to the backhand of Devon Travis, and Santana, who can run, beat it out while Shaw scored. Two-zip Brewers, and we haven’t swung a bat yet.
But we came out swinging in the first, and it looked like tonight might be different until the bogey man stuck his head out from behind the bat rack and breathed his foul stink on some of the sticks. Devon Travis led off with a hard grounder that should have been a base hit but for a fine play by the shortstop, Orlando Arcia. Then Wily (one-el Wily) Peralta walked Jose Bautista on a 3-2 pitch, and Kendrys Morales singled to centre, with Bautista going to third.
If you hadn’t noticed, while Bautista hasn’t set the world on fire with his bat since the first games of the World Baseball Classic, he has been playing with a friskiness and elan, particularly in the field, that would have been hard to imagine last year, amidst his injury woes. He’s clearly put his botched free agency of the winter behind him, and is dialled in on being the complete player we once knew.
Troy Tulowitzki boomed a double to centre. Bautista strolled home and Morales chugged around to third. With the Brewers’ lead cut to one and runners on second and third, things were suddenly looking up.
And then they weren’t. Peralta found his mojo and fanned Russell Martin. Then he fanned Justin Smoak, and the threat was over.
That first inning set the pattern for the game. In the third Broxton singled, stole second, moved to third on a right-side ground out by Ryan Braun, and scored on a fielder’s choice grounder to Travis at second, who tried to get the speedy Broxton at the plate, but had little chance. The run would have scored anyway, but it was a quesionable call by Travis since he missed the sure out in exchange for not choking off the run. Happ made it academic, though, by fanning Santana and Jesus Aguilar to end the inning. So, 3-1 Milwaukee.
In the bottom of the inning, Peralta walked Travis leading off, and after Bautista struck out, Morales hit one so hard off the fence in right that he had to settle for a single while Travis scampered to third. Tulo promptly delivered him with a sacrifice fly to centre before Russell Martin, starting to show some serious frustration, swung over a 2-2 fast ball that barely cleared his shoe tops. So, 3-2 Milwaukee.
Day late and a dollar short, and the story goes on.
In the fifth, Jay Happ recorded the first two outs, and then grooved one to Domingo Santana who parked it in the seats in right. When Jesus Aguilar followed with a double to right, it was time for Manager John Gibbons to pull the plug on Happ, with a disappointing line of 4.2 ip, 4 runs, 8 hits, no walks, and 8 strikeouts on 102 pitches. Though Milwaukee did hit some loud knocks off him, he deserved a little better fate, having given up two solo homers and two runs scored on balls that didn’t leave the infield. Dominic Leone, who may be 2017’s version of Ryan aka yo-yo Tepera, for shuffling off to Buffalo and back, came in to strand Aguilar at second by getting Hernan Perez on a fly ball to right. 4-2 Milwaukee.
In the bottom of the fifth, Morales and Tulo combined for another two-out run, as the latter doubled home the chugging DH all the way from first before Russell Martin once again snuffed out the rally by striking out. We had a moment of lightness for once as Zeke Carrera used a towel to help revive the puffing Morales in the dugout, but that didn’t change the fact the once again Toronto was unable to pick up the second run needed to bring the game back to square one.
So 4-3 Milwaukee it was after five, and 4-3 Milwaukee it ended.
And the Toronto Blue Jays settled yet another layer deeper into the frustrating funk that has been the 2017 season for them thus far.
Not to say that there wasn’t some interesting baseball played in the last four innings, though.
The Jays’ relief corps acquitted itself well indeed. Leone’s spot in the fifth was his moment in the light, making for a two-pitch appearance. Joe Smith breezed through the sixth with two strikeouts on 12 pitches, Joe Biagini stranded a walk in the seventh, Jason Grilli got rocked by the first three batters he faced, but recorded two outs on them before giving up a ground-rule double to right to Manny Pina, who was stranded there when Arcia grounded out to short.
For the fans in the stands it was almost worth the loss to see Roberto Osuna come on to finish off in the ninth, and he didn’t disappoint, even if he did give up a harmless two-out single to Ryan Braun. He showed little effect from the neck strain that had put him on the disabled list. His velocity was up, and he navigated the inning on 14 pitches with one strikeout.
Through this dreadful spell, not only have the Jays’ pitchers not contributed materially to the losses, but the defence has held up as well. Two particular plays stood out behind the Jays’ relievers tonight. In the seventh, Biagini fanned Broxton leading off, then walked Braun. Travis Shaw drove one hard in the hole on the left side. Ryan Goins, playing third for Josh Donaldson, ranged far to his left, made the stop, and finished with the turn and strong throw in time to get Shaw, with Braun advancing to second. Biagini then froze the imposing Santana on a 3-2 pitch to strand Braun at second.
In the eighth, Jason Grilli wasn’t missing too many bats. Jesus Aguilar led off stinging a sinking liner into right centre that Kevin Pillar charged, dove for, and caught as he stretched out on the turf in the usual Pillar style. Just another three-star or so catch for Super Kevin. Grilli’s adventures continued when Hernan Perez drove Bautista to the wall in right, after Grilli thought he had him struck out. Then came the Aguilar double, and finally Arcia submitted meekly to let Grilli off the hook.
As for the Jays, they never got another hit after Tulowitzki’s RBI double in the fifth, only reaching against Peralta and the three relievers who followed with two bases on balls and an error. Jacob Barnes, Corey Knebel, and Naftali Feliz all chipped in an effective inning each to protect Peralta’s win.
Dare I say it? “This is the way the [game] ends, . . . not with a bang but a whimper.”
Marcus Stroman is up next tomorrow. He’s the proud possessor of Toronto’s only win of the season to date. Dare we hope?
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