It was a good thing for the Jays’ hitters that all eyes were on Aaron Sanchez’ blister-prone fingers tonight, diverting attention from a pathetic offensive output for the second straight game of the season.
If tonight’s performance is anything to go by, it looks like Sanchez is all right, even if he did run out of gas in the sixth inning and allow New York to stretch a tight 2-1 lead to 4-1, TO the Yanks’ bullpen is money in the bank.
It could have—should have—been all even at ones after five innings, were it not for a play not made by Devon Travis with two out in the second inning that turned a tough chance into the first major-league hit by Yankee rookie callup Billy McKinney, who was making his big league debut tonight, in place of the injured Aaron Hicks. McKinney’s hit extended the inning and led to New York’s first run.
And maybe, all things considered, John “Mr. Nice Guy” Gibbons should have been proactive and pulled Sanchez after five innings and 67 pitches. As it turned out, the Toronto bullpen was lights out for the rest of the night, three and a third innings, and could have stretched that for another two thirds of an inning in the sixth.
But Travis didn’t make a play that needs to be made in the clinch, Gibbie let Sanchez come back out for the sixth, and you can find reasons here to suggest that three of the four New York runs shouldn’t have crossed the plate.
But, then, you’d be missing the bigger picture, which is, get ready for it, that the Toronto Blue Jays have garnered a grand total of seven base hits in their first two games of the season, and have struck out 24 times, a neat 12 in each game. This is their worst batting record in the first two games of the season in history, beating the previous low of nine, which they “achieved” four times previously.
Devon Travis is 0 for the season. Josh Donaldson, moved to DH tonight because of his “dead” arm is 0 for the season (can his arm be revived? May we hope for resurrection in this Easter season?) Justin Smoak is 1 for the season. Curtis Granderson is 1 for the season. Randal Grichuk is 1 for the season, though granted it was an impressive big fly tonight. Russ Martin is 0 for the season. Kendrys Morales is 0 for the season. Aledmys Diaz is 0 for the season. The much-maligned (by the bean counters so focused on their calculators they don’t even watch the game) Kevin Pillar is 2 for 6 with a homer and a double. Yangervis Solarte went a double for four tonight while taking over third from Donaldson. Steve Pearce is 1 for 2 with a double pinch-hitting twice against Aroldis Chapman. (You think you’ve got it rough?)
There you have it folks, the collective brain freeze of almost the entire roster of the Toronto Blue Jays after the first two games of this championship season. Only Gift Ngoepe, who looked sharp at shortstop tonight when he was subbed in, and Luke Maile among the position players can’t be blamed for the failure to launch by the Blue Jays: neither has had a plate appearance yet.
It’s so bad, folks, that when I was fuddy-duddying around last night getting ready for bed I was trying to remember who actually has the seven hits, and despite my slightly age-fogged memory cells, it was an easy reach. Most things, like what date it is, I have to research just to be sure I’m right. But the rarae aves (I checked, that’s the correct plural of rara avis) who have Toronto’s seven hits so far? Easy-peasy.
Now that we’ve dispatched that weak-hitting elephant from the room, let’s take a quick look at the game in more detail.
Sanchez looked great in the first inning. After a rivetting first-pitch called strike, Brett Gardner whacked a 2-2 pitch on the ground off the glove of shortstop Aledmys Diaz, who coudn’t quite come up with it, so as per usual, Gardner was on base in the first. Not a great prospect with Aaron Judge, the Whacker, and Giancarlo Stanton, the Thwacker, due up two and three.
But Sanchez calmly picked a sharp come-backer off the bat of the Whacker and started a 1-4-3 double play turned nicely by Devon Travis, and absolutely sawed off the Thwacker for a weak groundout to Justin Smoak at first to end the inning in a neat ten pitches. Well begun for Sanchez!
After Yankee starter Masahiro Tanaka stranded a two-out double by Justin Smoak in the bottom of the first, Sanchez’ second inning was a “whole ‘nother story”, as they say in Detroit. Didi Gregorius, who gives Toronto even more trouble than Brett Gardner, walloped a deep drive to centre. Kevin Pillar might have taken a wrong first step, but in any case the ball fell safely and careened back past Pillar off the wall while Didi danced his way to third.
Then Gregorius and Jays’ third sacker Solarte teamed up to gift-wrap a big out for Sanchez. Gary Sanchez (don’t get confused here) hit a bouncer to third. Despite playing back because the Jays were conceding the early run, Solarte was on the ball quickly and rifled it to Russell Martin at the plate just in time to nip Gregorius, who had decided to try the contact play with nobody out. His bad.
Neil Walker flied out to right for the second out while Gary Sanchez held first, so things looked some good for Aaron Sanchez to get out of the inning, with the rookie Billie McKinney coming up for his first major league at-bat the only hitter standing between Sanchez, A., and a nice sit-down.
This is where we replay my tired refrain of Devon Travis can’t make the big play. McKinney hit a tough one-hopper to the left of Travis, who was playing about three feet outside the dirt infield. Travis took a quick step or two and went to his knees, but failed to get his glove down to the ball, which went through to Grichuk in right for a single. It was a tough chance on a hard-hit ball, but if he picks it, the inning’s over. The second baseman on a playoff-bound team makes that play when it’s most needed.
Sanchez, G., went to third on the play, and scored on a double by Brandon Drury, who shouldn’t have made it to the plate. Sanchez, A., then punched out Tyler Wade for the third out, but the run was in.
Thus when Randal Grichuk hammered the first pitch he saw from Masahiro Tanaka into the seats in left in the bottom of the second, it should have given the Jays a spirit-lifting 1-0 lead, instead of tying the game. Maybe things turn out differently then.
We can’t push this argument too far, however, because after Grichuk’s homer and Kevin Pillar’s two-out double to left that followed one batter later, Tanaka did not allow another Blue Jay batter to reach base, retiring 13 in a row before departing the game after six innings.
By that time the New York lead had been stretched to 4-1, thanks in part to Gibbie’s decisions, first, to send Sanchez back out for the sixth inning, and, second, to leave him in to face Tyler Wade with the bases loaded and two outs. Wade, of course, hit the double that gave the Yankees the cushion they needed to survive the Jays’ rally in the bottom of the ninth, when Steve Pearce and Yangervis Solarte put a little jolt in the crowd with two-out back-to-back doubles against Aroldis Chapman that cut the Jays’ deficit to two.
That was it, though, too little, too late. Chapman went 2-0 on Grichuk, who hung in and fouled off four in a row before the big Cuban flame-thrower froze him with a 100-mph fast ball to end the game.
Sound familiar? Kevin Pillar’s eighth-inning home run Thursday in the opener; back-to-back two-out doubles with two out in the bottom of the ninth tonight.
Not much to hang your hopes on there, eh?
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