Just in case anyone here needed a reminder of what a laugher is, today happened. After Jay Happ gave up a run on three straight hits in the top of the first against the Pirates in this afternoon’s rubber game of the series with Pittsburgh, Chad Kuhl walked Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson delivered him with another first-inning smash, and then Toronto piled on Kuhl for three more runs to take a 5-1 lead into the second inning.
After that, Happ settled in to pitch six innings of one-run ball and we got to relax and sit back and enjoy the sunshine and the good vibes emanating from the giant clamshell on the lakefront. Isn’t this the way baseball in August in Toronto is supposed to be?
All the elements of today’s win, Happ’s progressively more effective shutdown of the Pittsburgh lineup, Donaldson’s blast, Ryan Goins’ amazing focus at the plate with ducks on the pond, the bullpen’s effectiveness—three innings, four pitchers, no runs, no hits, two walks—have appeared in various combinations in many games over the course of this curious season. But seldom have all four combined on the same day to give such a satisfying outcome.
I won’t bother going into the stats but, let’s face it, the Jays’ pitchers have stunk in the first inning this season. None of the starters, whether regulars or fill-ins, has been immune from this problem. Yesterday’s nine-pitch gem in the first by rookie Chris Rowley was such a shock that we had to shake ourselves to be sure it was actually over so quickly.
So it was with a resigned shrug that we watched, after Starling Marte skyed out to Jose Bautista in right, as Josh Harrison, Andrew McCutchen, back in the lineup as the DH after taking yesterday off to tend to his injury, and David Freese knocked out clean base hits to give the Pirates a quick one-run lead. And, as so many times before, it was with a profound sense of relief that we watched Happ go on to control the damage, stranding McCutchen at second and Freese at first by fanning Jose Osuna and retiring Sean Rodriguez on a fly ball to centre.
It’s often said that facing imminent death has a way of marvellously focussing the mind. Maybe that works for the Blue Jays’ hitters when they give up that quick run in the first inning. Okay, that’s a stretch, but who knows? Anyhow, Bautista did his annoying thing that he does, annoying to opposing pitchers that is, by falling behind 1-2 to Pittsburgh starter Chad Kuhl, taking two perfectly hittable pitches for strikes, laying off tempters, fouling off another hittable strike, and then walking on the eighth pitch. It’s almost like they plan it, he and Johs, you know? (Of course they do.) All the while Bautista is wrecking Kuhl’s good pitches, Donaldson’s watching like a hawk, so we shouldn’t be surprised when he takes one strike and crushes the next one.
Bottom of the first homers to take the lead back from the visitors are all well and good, but what happened next was crucial to the outcome of the game. Kuhl failed to get the first out of the inning, as Justin Smoak delivered a blast to right centre for a double. Kuhl caught Kendrys Morales looking for the first out, but Zeke Carrera drew a walk, bringing Ryan Goins to the plate. Wait a minute, you say, Zeke Carrera hitting fifth, Goins hitting sixth? Well, with both Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki on the disabled list, with Kevin Pillar producing inconsistently, and Raffy Lopez and Darwin Barney pressed into action, where would you hit Carrera and Goins against right handers?
One thing I don’t understand is why teams continue to disregard Goins’ strength with the bat. The Pirates were definitely playing “pitch ’em away, play ’em away” for Goins, but it was amazing how far into right centre the right fielder was stationed when Goins pulled the second outside strike from Kuhl into right field, not even right down the line. Goins’ double was a given, but what the positioning did was enable Carrera to score all the way from first, behind Smoak, and it was 4-1.
Then the Bucs (for Buccaneers) played give-away again. Kevin Pillar bounced one hard to third and it went right through David Freese for an error. Goins advanced to third, perfectly positioned to be the second man to go on an audacious double steal. Pillar broke for second, and as soon as Francisco Cervelli let go of the ball for second, Goins broke for the plate like a streak. Shortstop Jordy Mercer charged the ball and fired it back to the plate, but Goins slid across easily as Pillar took second, and it was 5-1.
As far as the starting pitchers were concerned, that was all the scoring. Happ only gave up one more hit, a single to Sean Rodriguez in the fourth. He stranded a walk in the second, and two walks in the sixth, his last inning of work. His first two innings, when he accumulated 42 pitches, the three walks and the eight strikeouts extended his pitch count to 104 over six, and he deservedly received a warm handshake from manager John Gibbons for a job well done.
After the rough start, Kuhl gave the Pirates another four innings, and gave up only one more hit, an infield single to Josh Donaldson in the second. His 40 pitches and two walks in the first inning, three more scattered walks, and six strikeouts stretched him out to 96 pitches over the five innings.
Left-handed former Buffalo Bison Wade LeBlanc came in and pitched the sixth and seventh innings for Pittsburgh, and if the Pirates had any hope of cutting into Toronto’s lead, LeBlanc didn’t help their cause much by giving up solo homers to Darwin Barney in the sixth and Justin Smoak in the seventh, extending the margin to 7-1.
Daniel Hudson walked Kevin Pillar to start the eighth inning but then retired the side.
The Toronto bullpen once more gathered up its strength, which must surely be on the wane by now, and kept the Pittsburgh offence from threatening over the last three innings to maintain the lead for Happ’s well-deserved win. Danny Barnes threw a thirteen-pitch seventh. Leonel Campos came in for the eighth, retired Josh Harrison on a fly ball, and then, presumably, annoyed John Gibbons no end by walking Andrew McCutchen and David Freese, necessitating his removal and replacement by Ryan Tepera, as if he needed the work. Tepera finished things off with a strikeout and a popup on only five pitches, so at least it was a short stint for him.
The beleaguered J.P. Howell was asked to mop up, and did an admirable job, getting three ground-outs on only twelve pitches.
That’s two series wins in a row for Toronto, and it’s been just enough to keep them on the fringe of the wild-card race. Next comes a four-game series at home with their worst division tormenters, the Tampa Bay Rays. If they can navigate those dangerous waters, they might get just a little closer to the pack. At the very least, they’ll keep us from writing them off if they manage to win more than they lose against the Rays.
Leave a Reply