When I was in Catholic high school a long time ago in Detroit, we heard that at some of the schools the nuns who chaperoned the dances used to carry yardsticks: they had to be able to slide the yardstick between the boy and the girl during slow dances or there was trouble. At my school, where the nuns were mostly old and perpetually grumpy, they didn’t need to carry yardsticks; they were sufficiently armed with a glare that cut you to the core.
If tonight’s game between the Blue Jays and the Rays was a slow dance in days of yore, you’d have needed Saran Wrap to measure the distance between the two teams, the game was that close. Hm-m-m Saran Wrap, slow dancing, back when you were young, kinda sets you to thinking, doesn’t it?
Anyway, this one might as well have been a playoff game, because it had every element of excitement, from gritty starts by Marcus Stroman, in this case the elder veteran, and young Jake Faria for Tampa Bay, to a fluke double, to a clutch homer, to a sketchy strike zone leading to a sketchy ejection (John Gibbons, who else?), to a stomped-on shortstop, to some great moments of relief pitching, to a diving stop that saved the game, it was all there, and what an entertaining night it was!
And what about a game three of this series that was decided by one run; the cumulative winning margin for one win so far by Tampa Bay and two for Toronto has been four runs, exactly one run over the minimum.
Stroman went six and a third innings, gave up two runs on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts on 108 pitches. Faria went five and a third, gave up three runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts on 98 pitches. And if Corey Dickerson hadn’t lost Steve Pearce’s line drive in the lights leading off the sixth, which was followed by Kevin Pillar’s grounder moving him to third, Faria might have matched—or exceeded—the innings logged by Stroman in his start.
Both teams mounted challenges in the early innings, but the starters kept the slate clean until the Toronto third. Stroman retired the side in order in the first, the only clean inning he had all night. Faria gave up a one-out base hit to Josh Donaldson in the bottom of the inning, but threw a double-play ball to Justin Smoak. In the second inning Stroman caught Peter Bourjos looking for the third out with Dickerson on first after a two-out infield single by that bad-hopped viciously off the shoulder of Ryan Goins. Faria had to retire Goins on a grounder to first to close out the Jays second after Kevin Pillar hit a two-out double down the left-field line.
In the third inning Stroman had to face his toughest challenge thus far in the game, and was fortunate that it came with two outs. Brad Miller hit an opposite-field single to left, and Lucas Duda followed with a double to right, but Jose Bautista played it in quickly enough that Miller had to hold at third, and then both were stranded when Evan Longoria lined out to Bautista.
Faria wasn’t quite so lucky in the bottom of the third, as a classic “turf bounce” produced the first run of the game for Toronto. With one out for the Jays, Raffie Lopez drew Faria’s first walk of the day, which turned the lineup over and brought Bautista to the plate for his second appearance against the Tampa starter, who had fanned him to lead off the game for Toronto. This time Bautista hammered an 0-2 pitch into right centre that Mallex Smith, playing right, raced over to try to cut off before it got to the wall. Unfortunately for him he didn’t anticipate the bounce, got too close, and it sailed over his head. The catcher Lopez was able to get all the way around to score the first run. I have to say that he might well not have made it without the high bounce, but coming around third he looked pretty darned fast for a catcher.
Perhaps rattled, or maybe just mad, Faria proceeded to plunk Josh Donaldson hard in the back, earning him a stern look from the combative Toronto third baseman, but no further action ensued. Then he settled down and retired Justin Smoak on an infield fly rule popup to third, and fanned Kendrys Morales to avoid further damage.
After Marcus Stroman stranded a two-out “hustle double”* by Dickerson with two outs in the fourth, Faria gave up his second run to Steve Pearce leading off for the Jays, who went with the first pitch, a high fast ball on the outside corner, and muscled it out to right centre. After Pearce’s shot, Faria quickly retired the side on ten pitches, but it was now 2-0 for Toronto.
*Some commentators use this term to define a ball hit into “no-man’s land”, short or medium deep right or left centre field, or a liner down the foul line. The defining nature of the hit is that the ball has no chance to get to the wall, and the hitter perceives that the fielder has a long run to get to it, and he has a chance to beat a throw to second. It’s as much a question of good, aggressive base-running as it is of solid hitting.
The Rays got one run back in the fifth despite the fact that Stroman threw three ground ball outs, all to second base. Mallex Smith atoned for his first-inning fielding gaffe by hitting an opposite-field double to right leading off the inning. The first grounder to second moved Smith to third. The second scored him. The third ended the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth the Jays got something going with two outs—there’s been a lot of that going around—when Donaldson singled to left and Smoak walked. Morales hit the ball hard on the ground, but right to the second baseman Miller, way out in right field, in the old softball “rover” position. Threat over.
Stroman pitched around a walk to Logan Morrison in the top of the sixth to take him to 91 pitches, which gave him a fair chance at going at least seven, and Ryan Goins gave him added hope in the bottom of the sixth by driving in another run to expand the lead to 3-1. We’ve already mentioned that the tainted Pearce double to left and the Pillar groundout moving him to third ended the night for Faria. Manager Kevin Cash called on his prized new lefty, Dan Jennings, to face Goins.
In short order, very short order, Goins added to his clutch RBI reputation, got gunned down at second on a failed hit-and-run that turned into a strikeout-throw out, got stomped on the left forearm, and had to leave the game.
Only down by one, the Rays had the infield drawn in. Jennings’ first pitch to Goins was high on the outside corner. Shortened up on the bat, Goins slapped the ball past Jennings and between the tightened infielders into centre, and Pearce trotted home with an important third run. Then, with Darwin Barney at the plate in a 2-2 count, the Jays put on the hit-and-run, but Barney fanned and the catcher Sucre fired down to second in time to get Goins to end the inning. But damage was done: Goins slid in head first, with his left hand reaching for the bag. The throw was slightly off-line towards first, and second baseman Daniel Robertson had to cross the bag toward the sliding Goins to make the catch and apply the tag.
Unfortunately and unintentionally, Robertson’s left foot landed squarely on Goins’ bare left forearm, leaving him in pain with a nasty red contusion developing immediately. The inning was over, and Goins would be out of the game, Rob Refsnyder coming in to play second and Barney sliding over to short.
Marcus Stroman ran into his wall in the top of the seventh, despite striking out Peter Bourjos leading off. If anything, manager John Gibbons went too far with him: he walked Mallex Smith, gave up a single to “Sweet Jesus” Sucre that sent Smith racing around to third, and walked Brad Miller to load the bases before Gibbie came out with the hook, calling on Aaron Loup to face Lucas Duda, who was replaced at the plate by Steven Souza. Loup walked Souza to force in a run after a terrible call on a 2-2 pitch that should have struck him out. Gibbie thought so, vociferously, as he came out to remove Loup and bring in Dominic Leone. Loup went to the bench and Gibbie to the clubhouse, sent off by plate umpire Lance Barksdale.
With the lead down to one and the game on the line, Leone did a magnificent job, freezing the veteran Longoria and popping up Logan Morrison to get out of the jam. Longoria was furious about the call from Barksdale on a 2-2 pitch, and the pitch graph shows that he had justice on his side, but Barksdale was wearing the funny cap and the big shoulders of his trade, so there was no reversing the tide of history.
The Jays never threatened again. Jennings got the big K he’d needed the inning before, but fanning Raffie Lopez in the bottom of the seventh was not what Kevin Cash had in mind when he brought him in. Nevertheless, Jennings turned over a one-out, nobody on seventh to Sergio Romo, who retired five in a row over the seventh and the eighth to keep Toronto from threatening.
Ryan Tepera once again was perfect in the Tampa eighth, getting two ground balls and a strikeout on fifteen pitches.
Roberto Osuna followed with his thirty-first save, grateful for a big fielding assist by Darwin Barney, who took a dive and maybe saved the win for Toronto. The speedster Mallex Smith led off with a ground ball single up the middle. Adeiny Hechaverria hit the same grounder up the middle: if it got through, it would be first and third with nobody out, blazing speed at third and decent speed at first. But Barney, moved over from second to short after Goins went out, put everything into it, flagged down the ball skidding on one knee, spun and threw to second without having the time to set up for the throw. Refsnyder made it to the bag, and the throw just beat Mallex sliding in for the forceout.
After that, Osuna took over. Miller bounced one back to him and he turned and made the throw to second to force Hechaverria. Steven Souza took a called third strike, and the game was in the bag.
The series is now 2-1 for us, with just tomorrow afternoon to go before we head for the fabled Wrigley Field for the weekend. It would be a lot nicer to head out of town 7-3 on the homestand than 6-4, now wouldn’t it? The only thing in the way is the little matter of Chris Rowley making his second major league start against Chris Archer. What, me worry?
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