Remember when you were a kid, or maybe just last week, when you knew there was a thunderstorm in the air, and it kept getting closer and closer, more and more ominous, but you just didn’t know when the floodgates were going to burst, and all hell was going to break loose?
That’s what it was like watching the Blue Jays cling to the faint hope that somehow they might figure out a way to keep the storm from washing over them tonight.
Right from the first batter of the game, you had the feeling that it was just a matter of time before the roof was going to fall in. The miracle is that it took eleven innings, four hours and forty-four minutes, and seven Toronto pitchers before it actually happened. And just to complete the link between metaphor and reality, a rain shower moved in and sprinkled the ball park before they could get the roof closed, just as the Sox were putting the game away in the eleventh.
We had thought after his last start in Kansas City that maybe whatever was ailing Marco Estrada had finally gone away, and that his return to form on that night might become the new normal for him in 2017.
Then Mookie Betts strode to the plate to lead off for the Red Sox in tonight’s game. By the way, to my mind there should be a special league bylaw forbidding Boston from using Betts in the leadoff spot. It’s just not fair.
It might seem strange that I’d focus on an at-bat that resulted in an out, and a scoreless first inning to suggest that the Sword of Damocles was unsheathed and dangling over Estrada’s neck, but here’s my case. After Betts took a called strike on a fast ball up in the zone, Estrada was wild up and away, and then down. Then he started to pound the zone, three straight pitches, and Betts fouled off all of them. Then Estrada buried a changeup for a full count, before Betts finally flew out to right. One batter, one out, eight pitches, times three outs is twenty-four pitches.
The next five pitches resulted in a walk on 3-1 to Andrew Benintendi, who then tried to steal second, but was tagged out on an acrobatic catch and tag by Ryan Goins of Luke Maile’s quick throw, as Goins had to dive across the bag toward first to snag the throw and then swipe back to tag Benintendi who was sliding past him. This was with Dustin Pedroia at the plate, who was in the process of working a seven-pitch walk from Estrada. The Jays’ starter’s first pitch to Mitch Moreland was in the dirt, and his second wild high, before he generated a swing and miss on the inner half. Then Moreland smoked the ball, a wicked one hopper on which Goins had to make another sharp play to throw him out at first.
And the pitch total was . . . twenty-four. Honestly, now, who among us felt good about the direction this game might take after watching the top of the first?
So when Justin Smoak pounded a one-out three-run homer off Boston starter and noted reclamation project Doug Fister, it only slightly allayed our fears. Would that be enought for Estrada? we asked ourselves. Not likely, we answered ourselves.
Fister was admittedly rocky, giving up a leadoff single to Jose Bautista, taking nine pitches to fan Zeke Carrera, and nicking Josh Donaldson with a pitch to put two on for Smoak, hitting left against the right-handed Fister. As he has often done, Smoak attacked a lame fast ball high on the outside corner, and drove it in exactly the direction it came to him, out over the wall in left-centre. After Smoak’s shot, Fister settled down and retired the last two batters, Kendrys Morales who fanned on a 3-2 pitch, and Troy Tulowitzki, who fouled out to Moreland at first. Fister was even less likely to be around than Estrada, having expended 31 pitches to get through the first inning, and down 3-zip to boot.
Both pitchers looked like they had dropped into Toronto from a different ball game in the second inning; each struck out two and retired the side in order. The pitch counts continued to rise, however, because of the strikeouts, Estrada sitting at 41 and Fister at 51.
The third inning marked a return to the rocky starts of both pitchers, who both had to escape bases-loaded jams, though Estrada’s problems were totally self-inflicted, his escape far more dramatic, yet the consequences worse for his long term prospects in this game.
Even within the top of the third Estrada played Jekyll and Hyde. Facing the bottom of the order, he walked the bases loaded, rookie shortstop Tzu-Wei Lin and rookie third baseman Deven Marrero, and Betts again. He threw four straight balls to Lin, and then walked the latter two on 3-1 counts. Then in retiring the next three batters without allowing a run, he only threw three balls in total, popping up Benintendi on a 1-2 pitch, Pedroia on an 0-2 pitch, and fanning Moreland on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, a 2-2 count. By now he was up to 67 pitches and the clock was ticking.
The bottom of the third was easier for Fister, though he ended up surrounded by enemy batters before escaping the inning as well. He started off needing only five pitches to retire Jose Bautista and Zeke Carrera, returned to the active roster tonight, on fly balls. Carrera put a charge into one, hitting it deep to the left-field corner, but it didn’t have the legs to slice away from the speedy Benintendi, who ran it down. Then Josh Donaldson doubled to left, and Fister followed by giving Justin Smoak an intentional pass after falling behind 3-0. Kendrys Morales then dribbled a grounder to the left side and beat it out for an infield hit to load them up for Troy Tulowitzki. The latter, in another letdown at-bat, quickly fell behind 0-2 before dribbling one back to Fister for the third out.
In the fourth Estrada walked one more, giving him five so far on the night, while Fister retired the Jays in order, as both pitch counts continued to rise ominously, Estrada up to 83 and Fister to 77.
The Sox finally broke through, as you just knew they would, in the fifth, putting up a two-spot to cut the Toronto lead to one, and knocking Estrada out of the game in the process, ending any hope that he might still be around to take the decision, if the Jays might be so lucky as to hang onto the lead.
It’s never good when you walk the number nine hitter, and this time was no exception. After putting Marrero on, Estrada gave up an infield single to Betts on a squibber to third. He bought himself a bit of time by popping up Benintendi, bringing noted Blue Jay-killer Dustin Pedroia, the last batter Estrada would face. Pedroia chased Estrada with a double to left centre that saw Betts scampering home from first right behind Marrero. Manager John Gibbons brought in the redoubtable Danny Barnes to get Moreland on a fly to centre, with Pedroia advancing to third, and then Ramirez on an easy grounder to second. Toronto 3, Boston 2 after four and a half.
Having Zeke Carrera back gave manager John Gibbons the option to try some small ball—hell, let’s just call it what it is, “real baseball”—but it didn’t work out. Fister pitched cautiously to Bautista leading off, and eventually walked him on a 3-2 pitch. Carrera then dropped a sacrifice bunt back to Fister, moving Bautista up, with the meat of the order, Donaldson, Smoak, and Morales, coming up. Fister stayed away, away, and away on Donaldson, eventually walking him on a 3-2 pitch. But both Smoak and Morales were victims of soft contact, Smoak flying out to right and Morales to short left, and the runners were stranded.
Whatever else you want to say about Toronto’s pitchers, you can’t deny that they’ve been victimized a great deal by bleeders and bloops this year, and Boston’s sixth inning, in which they scored two more runs to take the lead, was a perfect example.
Jackie Bradley, who has a penchant for swinging late/slashing at the ball, hit yet another one to left field to lead off. It was just a lazy fly ball, but Carrera completely lost it in the hazy twilight sky. He put his hands out in the universal signal of helplessness almost as soon as the ball was hit, and by the time he picked it up in his sight it was falling safely to earth not far from him while Bradley gleefully chugged into second with a “double”.
Barnes walked Vazquez on a 3-1 pitch, setting up the double play, and maybe preferring to pitch to the rookie Lin, who gave him the double-play ball he wanted . . . except it ticked off his glove and he had to retrieve it, and could only go to first. So Boston got the bunt anyway that Lin had failed to deliver. The other Boston rookie, Deven Marrero, shot one opposite to right field that scored Bradley, but Bautista’s quick play and strong arm held Vazquez to third. Bautista held the Boston catcher to third again after catching Betts’ short fly to right.
This brought Benintendi, a left-handed hitter, to the plate, and Gibbons out to replace Barnes with the lefty Beliveau, who was, like Barnes, victimized when Benintendi swung late on a high pitch on the outside corner, and grounded a double off the end of his bat down the line in left to finally plate Vazquez with the go-ahead run. Pedroia was intentionally walked to bring the matchup with Moreland to the plate, and the tactic worked as Beliveau caught him looking on a low 0-2 fast ball on the outside corner.
With the luck of the contender, Boston now had a lead to hand over to its very strong bullpen, with Fister finished at 100 pitches and now on the record for the win; and with the bad luck of the team riding a low streak, it would be up to Toronto to try to claw back a run.
This time, however, surprise of surprises, it didn’t take long to be back at square one with the Bostons. Manager John Farrell turned the game over to the imposing right-hander Heath Hembree, and he came in to face Troy Tulowitzki, starting him off with a low, outside curve ball that went for a sketchy strike called by plate umpire Pat Hoberg, who had been squeezing the strike zone all night. Until that moment, that is. Hembree made the mistake of serving up a high inside fast ball and Tulowitzki jumped on it and lined a rocket over the fence in left to tie the game.
And there it stayed, tied at four, from Tulo’s blast to the top of the eleventh. Let’s be clear here. This wasn’t a case of two shutdown bullpens duelling it out. Far from it. Both teams had baserunners, both teams had opportunities, and there was more than one moment of sheer tension before the eleventh inning.
After Tulowitzki’s homer, Hembree had walked Ryan Goins, but then retired the side. In the seventh, manager John Farrell brought in the usually formidable Matt Barnes, who dug himself a hole with one out by walking Donaldson and Smoak, but then the Toronto malady set in and let him off the hook, as Morales fanned and Tulowitzki, his moment in the sun passed, grounded out to first to end the threat. Barnes stayed on to pitch a clean eighth, in effect taking him out of the bullpen rotation for the next two games by hitting a pitch count of 39.
Blaine Boyer pitched the ninth and tenth for Boston, and gave up only a single to Carrera with one out in the ninth, and nothing more, facing only seven batters and throwing only twenty-six pitches.
John Gibbons chose to go an inning apiece, at least until the game entered extra innings. Dominic Leone came on to replace Barnes for the seventh, and retired the side despite giving up a base hit to left (where else?) by Jackie Bradley with one out. Ryan Tepera came in for the eighth and dug himself a hole that he managed to get out of in fine style. After striking out the pesky Marrero, Tepera yielded one of Mookie Betts’ patented ground ball doubles down the line in left. He then tried unsuccessfully to get Benintendi to bite on high pitches out of the zone, and ended up walking him. But then he enticed Pedroia to go after an inside pitch, which he grounded to Tulowitzki at short who turned it over to Goins and on to first for the inning-ending double play.
As usual, at home manager Gibbons brought in his closer to pitch the ninth in a tie game, the idea being to close off the opponents before you win it, a new concept that is gaining wide acceptance around the league. In any case, you have to keep your closer sharp, even if there are few save opportunities, as when a team is not winning very often. So this would be Roberto Osuna’s third straight non-save situation, in the team’s current funk.
And it went very well, as he retired the Sox on only twelve pitches, striking out Moreland, popping up Bradley, and getting Vazquez to fly out to left. Oh, there was that Hanley Ramirez double to centre with one out that he pounded directly over Kevin Pillar’s head, but it didn’t really matter because at the end of the inning he was still at second.
So using Osuna in the ninth worked, but only in the sense that it gave the Jays the opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, not that they actually won it then. They did get the base hit out of Zeke Carrera off Blaine Boyer, but that was it.
Aaron Loup has found more success in recent outings when he’s been given a full inning assignment, rather than brought in to match up for one or two batters. With the game extended, manager Gibbons didn’t have the luxury of holding anyone back, given the brevity of Marco Estrada’s start. Loup got through the tenth, but it was quite a ride indeed.
Chris Young hit for Lin and was walked by Loup. Marrero grounded out to second, but it was definitely not a double-play ball, so Gibbie decided to put Betts on and pitch to Benintendi. Unfortunately, Loup wild-pitched the runners to second and third before striking out Benintendi on a foul tip. Walking Pedroia and loading the bases to face the left-handed Moreland was a no-brainer, and this time it turned out just fine, as he swung at the first pitch in the strike zone after two balls well inside, and grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
But Loup couldn’t dodge the bullet a second time in the eleventh. Ramirez led off with a double to left centre; Bradley followed with a single to right, but Ramirez had to hold at third because Bautista was on the ball quickly. Then Vazquez lined out to Bautista and Ramirez had to hold for a second time. However, there was no keeping him from scoring when Xander Bogaerts, hitting for the first time after replacing Lin at short, lined a single to right, and the Sox took the lead.
Bogaerts was the end of the line for Loup, and with few options left for Toronto, Glenn Sparkman came in to make his major league debut. Sparkman, like Joe Biagini last year, is a rule 5 draftee who broke his thumb in spring training and spent the entire season to this point on the disabled list. This allowed the Jays, in effect, to evade the requirement that rule 5 draftees must stay with the parent club or be offered back to their former team. But time ran out on that option, at about the same time that Sparkman recovered from his injury and finished rehab, so he was here and about the only man left in the bullpen.
For better or for worse it was Sparkman, and it was not a pretty debut. First, Bradley and Bogaerts pulled off a double steal with Deven Marrero at the plate. Then Marrero shot another base hit to right that scored both insurance runs, and Marrero was able to advance to second on the desperation throw to the plate. Mookie Betts hit a popup down the right-field line (again with the opposite-field hits!) that was a long run for everyone. Ryan Goins barely got to it, but the ball hit off his glove. Marrero had to hold second, and Betts was on with what was originally and unfairly charged as an error against Goins—it was later changed—and finally Dustin Pedroia ended the misery by grounding into a double play. Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Sparkman!
With a three-run lead, it wasn’t likely the Jays would do much against Craig Kimbrell, and they didn’t, going out in order in the bottom of the eleventh, bringing to an an end a game it seems they were fated to lose, though it took a long time, a lot of pitchers, and an awful lot of bases on balls, for their fate to be played out on the field.
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