Long Ball Stories

Tonight was a festive homecoming in many ways for the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was the opening night of a ten-game home stand after a tough but moderately successful seven-game road trip which saw them inch ever closer to respectability on the season.

The opposition was provided by the ever-popular Texas Rangers, whose appearance at the TV Dome always raises the intensity ante.

Finally, tonight marked the return of both Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki to the left side of the Toronto infield, where their presence together had anchored the team through the playoff runs of both 2015 and 2016. Except when one of them, or both, was missing in action due to injury.

Not so festive a night for the likes of Ryan Goins, Darwin Barney, and Chris Coghlan, of course, who will see their playing time and opportunity to contribute significantly diminished now that the “big boys” are back.

As the Blue Jays took the field for the top of the first, there was a strong reminder that not everything had been restored to normal for the home team. Taking the mound was Mike Bolsinger, filling in yet again for one of the three missing rotation pieces. As much as the lineup from one to nine looked as strong as ever it has—imagine Devon Travis, on a tear like he is, hitting eighth—without one of the original solid five on the hill to face down the tough Rangers, you had to feel more than a little trepidation.

This is meant in no way to denigrate Mike Bolsinger, who has worked hard during his time in the rotation, and provided some valuable innings. He would, in fact, at this point appear to be well capable of handling a fourth or fifth slot in some team’s rotation, just not that of a contender.

His tendency so far to run deep into counts and allow a few too many walks and baserunners by other means (three hbp in one game??) has meant that he hasn’t been able to get past the magic fifth inning, and his starts so far have led to increased wear and tear on the bullpen.

The first inning for the Rangers was a good example of the way Bolsinger’s starts seem to go. Shin-Soo Choo, leading off for Texas, wacked Bolsinger’s second pitch of the game into right field for a single. If I may say so, the players coming out of Korea seem to have a flair for the flare, taking the bell well in front of the plate and going wherever it’s pitched.

Two batters later Choo was on third. He moved up to second when Elvis Andrus grounded softly to second, and then to third when Nomar Mazara grounded out to Tulowitzki who was stationed behind second in the shift. Then Johnathon Lucroy drew a walk after home plate umpire Alan Porter refused to ask for help on a possible checked swing strike. This made for a tense moment with runners at the corners and the ever-dangerous Roughned Odor at the plate. Odor quickly ended the suspense by carelessly slapping at the first pitch from Bolsinger and grounding weakly to Travis at second. Still, for Bolsinger, three ground-ball outs and seventeen pitches was a pretty good first inning.

The trouble with Porter behind the plate immediately resurfaced in the bottom of the first. It was Kevin Pillar’s fault, according to the unwritten rules of baseball, yet Porter’s response was way out of proportion. Texas starter A.J. Griffin couldn’t find the plate from the start and went 3-0 on Pillar leading off. Then Griffin threw a strike, low but definitely in the zone. Pillar didn’t see it that way, crossed the plate toward first and started to take off his elbow pad. He was shocked and stopped short when the pitch was called a strike.

There is a tradition as old as baseball that players must never “show up” umpires. This would include any movement or gesture that would suggest disagreement with an umpire’s call. It may sound like an outdated privilege for the umpire, but if you think of it in terms of stirring up an angry mob, you get a different picture, don’t you?

Thus, the catcher should never turn and speak to the umpire. Most umps will let a catcher say almost anything if he stays in his crouch looking forward. Also, batters should not start for first until they hear that ball four has been called. Pillar would be the first to admit that he shouldn’t have started for first.

But I have a bigger problem when that same umpire, a couple pitches later, rings up a batter on a pitch on the inside corner maybe but nearly in the hitter’s eyes that is clearly ball four, especially when that batter had just previously “shown up” the umpire.

The Pillar at-bat was quickly forgotten with the arrival of Josh Donaldson at the plate for his first hits since April thirteenth. Great hosannas greeted the erstwhile saviour at the plate. Even greater hosannas ensued when he drove the ball over Jared Hoying’s head to the base of the centre-field wall for a double. More quiet were the sighs of relief when he survived a head-first slide into second to beat a good throw in a close play that was only close because of how hard Donaldson hit the ball.

However, Donaldson died at second (sounds like the title of a baseball mystery, doesn’t it?) as Texas starter A.J. Griffin retired Jose Bautista on a ground-out and Kendrys Morales on a looper to second baseman Roughned Odor playing out in the “rover” spot in the shift.

Bolsinger gave up a run in the second inning that was a typical Bolsinger run in the sense that he walked Mike Napoli to lead off, and it was Napoli who came around to score. However, leaving aside the walk, the run was down to sloppy defense by the Jays, which not only made it unearned, but could have made the damage worse, were it not for the fact that Bolsinger threw two more ground ball outs.

The shift may also have contributed to the Rangers’ run. With Napoli, no twinkletoes he, on first, Joey Gallo grounded a possible double-play ball to Devon Travis in short right. But Travis threw wide to second, where it was Donaldson trying to make the pivot because of the the shift. He came off the bag and everybody was safe, with Napoli making it to third. Jared Hoying hit a sacrifice fly to Zeke Carrera in left that tallied the game’s first run, but Carrera yet again threw to the wrong cutoff man, toward the plate where he had no chance of getting Napoli. This allowed Joey Gallo to move into scoring position at second with one out, removing the double play as well, when the correct throw was to the middle-infield cutoff man, which would have prevented Gallo’s advance.

It was to Bolsinger’s credit that he cranked up his ground-ball machine to strand Gallo finally at third.

In the bottom of the second, A.J. Griffin only retired one batter and left the game clutching his left rib cage with his right hand, but not until the first four Jays’ hitters had reached and scored, seemingly to put the game away early. Griffin had walked Justin Smoak on four pitches to lead off the inning. He then threw two more balls to Russell Martin before finding the plate, except that Martin hit the pitch into left for a base hit. Troy Tulowitzki walked on a three-one pitch to load the bases, and then Griffin finally got ahead of a batter by throwing a strike to Devon Travis. Griffin’s next pitch to Travis was also a strike, but it never got to catcher Johnathan Lucroy because Travis rifled it into the left-field seats for the Jays’ second grand slam in two games and a 4-1 Toronto lead.

Griffin faced one more batter, Zeke Carrera, whom he struck out looking on three pitches, the knockout blow a beautiful curve ball, a no-doubt strike three. But the pitch also knocked out Griffin, because it was the pitch after which he clutched his left side with his right hand. After consultations with coaches and trainers, he was done (and was later placed on the disabled list, where he joins an ever-growing legion of starting pitchers this season).

Always an interesting story line is the guy who toils in obscurity in the minors for years and finally makes it to the show when he’s already or nearly a senior citizen in baseball years. Rangers Manager Jeff Bannister handed the ball to one such player to pick up for the injured Griffin.

Austin Bibens-Dirkx, who otherwise would be more notable for his complex moniker, is a 32-year-old right-hander who finally made it to the major leagues with the Rangers this year after working for eleven years in the minors since being drafted in 2006 by Seattle. When he came into the game his total major league experience was with the Rangers, seven and a third innings over three appearances this year. His assignment today was that of the last man in the ‘pen, to pick up for an injured starter in the early innings, and mainly to survive and accumulate innings and outs to save the rest of the bullpen for when they might be needed. In effect, this opportunity to go long would also serve as an audition for Bibens-Dirkx, and a chance for the Texas staff to evaluate him.

(With no disrespect proferred, I have no intention of typing even Bibens-Dirkx’ last name every time it occurs. He must go by his initials. I have two choices: he can be ABD, or he can be BD. ABD is the somewhat derogatory appellation accorded the hapless individual who studied for years, completed a B.A. and an M.A., did all the work for a Ph.D. thesis, but never finished it: All But Dissertation. This cuts a little close to home. Don’t ask. B.D. of course is the charming dumb jock of a football player in “Doonesbury”. This is an easy call: henceforth Austin Bibens-Dirkx shall be “BD”.)

Leaving aside the fact that he came in with nobody on base, BD easily passed the first part of this mult-part test, taking ten pitches to blow away Pillar and Donaldson on strikeouts.

Surely BD’s fellow journeyman Mike Bolsinger returned to the mound with renewed confidence after the Travis shot. That didn’t keep him from continuing to skate around trouble, this time needing a bad running mistake by Elvis Andrus to escape the inning still ahead 4-1.

Andrus led off the inning with a ground single to left between Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzky. I noted with interest that Tulo did not seem to make a complete effort to keep the ball in the infield, running over toward the ball and leaning down with his glove, not quite reaching it, but with absolutely no inclination to leave his feet. Maybe no need, he’d never have gotten Andrus anyway, but still . . .

Nomar Mazara followed by hitting one deep to Pillar in centre, with Andrus holding first. Jonathan Lucroy then bounced a double over Justin Smoak’s head into the right-field corner, where Jose Bauista hustled it down and initiated a quick relay to Devon Travis, who must have been surprised to turn and see Andrus chugging around third, ignoring, as we could clearly see in the replays, his coach’s stop sign. Travis’ throw to the plate was accurate, and Andrus was DOA for the second out, with Russell Martin making a great tag at the plate. Bautista finished off the Inning of Saving Mike by running into the alley in right centre and flagging down a deep drive by his pal Roughned Odor.

BD continued his first tour of the rocky valley of Toronto’s lineup in the bottom of the third, when he managed to get by Bautista, Morales, and Martin, but was introduced to the realities of pitching in the TV Dome to our heroes when Justin Smoak took him deep with two outs to increase the lead to 5-1.

Bolsinger’s dance with danger went on in the top of the fourth, when he gave up a second run to Texas but evaded worse damage. As usual, part of it was his own making. Not that he gave up a leadoff single to Mike Napoli, but that he then wild-pitched him to second, eliminating the double play and making it possible for Napoli to score on the two ground balls that followed. Bolsie wasn’t done, though, because Delino DeShields hit a two out chopper to third that sailed over/past Donaldson and went to the corner for a double. Donaldson looked slow and tentative on the ball, which offered as a backhand short-hop, a play he normally always gets to, and sometimes makes. Just sayin’. In typical fashion, the slow-throwing righty retired the dangerous Choo on a good foul tip grab by Martin to escape worse.

Out came BD for his second full inning of work, with five outs already racked up, just doin’ his job for the team. This time he had to strand a one-out Travis double to centre by punching out Zeke Carrerafor the second time , and getting Pillar on a fly to centre. Ho-hum. Everybody has to strand a double by Travis.

In the fifth the Rangers inched a bit closer, and this time it cost Bolsinger the chance at a win, as John Gibbons wasn’t about to risk letting the whole thing slip away. Again, the leadoff walk and the two-out cash-in did the trick for Texas. Andrus walked, stole second, held there while Bolsie fanned Mazara and got Lucroy to ground out to short. But then he walked Odor, and Andrus stole third while the Jays were in the shift for Odor. Mike Napoli knocked Andrus in with a base hit to left, a ground ball that somehow managed barely to sneak past the converging dives of both Donaldson and Tulo, and also knocked Bolsinger out of the game, with four and two thirds innings pitched, 86 pitches, a two-run lead and two on, the dangerous left-handed Gallo striding to the plate.

Okay, can’t see what else Gibbie might have done here. Luckily for him, though, his matchup of Aaron Loup to face Gallo resulted in a ground ball from Gallo to end the threat.

BD came back out for the fifth to give Jeff Bannister more than enough of the outs he needed, but working his way through the tough Jays’ order a second time cost Texas another run and restored the Jays’ three-run lead. This time he struck Justin Smoak out, but only after Kendrys Morales took him downtown.

Loup retired the side in order in the top of the sixth, which set him up for a possible garbage man win, since Bolsinger’s outing fell short. BD came back out for the sixth and got one more out for his team before running out of gas. After Russell Martin grounded out, BD walked Tulo and gave up a base knock to Devon Travis, and he was finished, after four innings and 84 pitches. He’d given up two runs, but left two on base for Jeremy Jeffress, who came on to pitch to Carrera, whom he walked to load the bases.

Kevin Pillar bounced into a first-to-home fielder’s choice for the second out. And then, with all of the power displayed by the Jays tonight, came the play on which the game actually turned. The hitter, Donaldson, didn’t even put the ball in play. Jeffress bounced one that got away from the catcher, and Travis, who had advanced to third on the fielder’s choice, scored easily to extend the Jays’ lead to 7-3. The run was added to BD’s effort, which in no way diminished his contribution to his team tonight

At the time, it was hard to imagine that one last add-on run in the sixth would turn out to be decisive, but that’s baseball sometimes.

Danny Barnes and Ryan Tepera have done yeoman work for the Jays during their recent resurgence, and tonight was no different. Though Barnes in the seventh and Tepera in the eighth both gave the Rangers a chance to close the gap, each slammed the door in their faces. In the seventh, it was a two-out walk by Barnes to Lucroy that brought Odor to the plate, only to have Barnes blow him away with his trademark high heat. In the eighth, Tepera gave up a one-out double to Joey Gallo, making it particularly interesting, but he fanned Jared Hoying and Delino DeShields to strand Gallo at second.

Meanwhile, Toronto had a chance to add an eighth run in the seventh off Jeffress, which as it turned out would have been nice to have, but they weren’t able to pull it off when Kendrys Morales, on the front end of a Morales single-Smoak walk-Tulowitzky single sequence, was waved home by third base coach Luis Rivera on Tulo’s hit, but thrown out at the plate by the left fielder DeShields.

Jeffress stayed on into the eighth, and he and Matt Bush retired Toronto in order, setting the stage for Joe Smith to mop up in the ninth, and why not? He’s been spot on for weeks.

And it was looking good, until there were two down, the Rangers down to their last out. Smith fanned Shin-soo Choo to start the inning, and then retired Elvis Andrus on a ground-out to shortstop. This brought Nomar Mazara to the plate, and a simple little dribbler threw Toronto’s hopes of an easy end into a cocked hat. Smith had to take some of the blame for it. Mazara topped the ball toward first. Smith broke off the mound for it, and Russell Martin raced out from behind the plate as well. It was the catcher’s play, as his momentum was toward first, whereas Smith, a right-hander, had an awkward play to make at best, while Martin awkwardly tried to avoid running into him.

Mazara was safe, and that brought Lucroy to the plate. Lucroy doubled to left, sending Mazara to third—four runs down, the Rangers weren’t taking any chances. This brought everybody’s favourite Ranger, the delightful Roughned Odor, to the plate. With only one hard-hit ball off him, and a four-run lead, there was no reason not to let Smith pitch to Odor. In any case, there was no matchup to be had, at least none that Manager John Gibbons would trust, given that he wasn’t likely to try J.P. Howell again and Aaron Loup had already been used.

Smith’s first pitch to Odor was a slider way inside for a ball. His second was a fast ball almost as bad, but Odor, who never saw a bad pitch he didn’t want to hit, fouled it off. Then Smith left a fast ball up in the zone, and Odor deposited it over the fence in right centre, counting three for the Rangers and bringing them to within one.

Remember the Travis run on the wild pitch? And the run Morales didn’t score? Well, there we were, Toronto 7-6, two out in the ninth, and time for Roberto Osuna to come in for what had suddenly become a save situation. It was a tough spot, with the menacing Mike Napoli coming to the plate, but Osuna was up to it, fanning Napoli on a nasty 2-2 slider to finish a game that had been a breeze from the Jays since the second, but almost turned into a nightmare in the ninth.

So Toronto won its fourth in a row, and contributed to a continued skid on the part of the Texas Rangers. For once the Blue Jays had the opportunity to look with some sympathy at the plight of another team that should be contending but is struggling. Some sympathy, but not much. After all, it was the Texas Rangers.

And to this observer questions linger over the decision to return Donaldson and Tulowitzki to the lineup at the start of the present home stand. Their apparent inability, or unwillingness, to try to finish off tough plays to me is an indication that neither was actually ready to return to the defensive lineup. I’m not sure if receiving the accolades of the crowd for their triumphant return plus two base hits, neither of which figured in the scoring, was value enough received for rushing them back into action.