Long Ball Stories

Whatever were they thinking?

Hmm, I thought to myself. It was a happy little “hmm”. Kind of like when Winnie the Pooh is stung by a bee and thinks, “Ouch! Hmm, honey bee. Mmm, honey!”

I had just checked out the record of tonight’s starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds for game one of this Blue Jays’ three-game home interleague series. Lisalverto Bonilla. Interesting name, that. What’s he got? Oh, so far: 0-2, 6.17 ERA. Hmm. Tell me more. So I looked him up, checked out the always-handy career stats and game logs. Oh, dear.

He had three decent starts for Texas in 2014, and this spring is his first time back in the majors since. After a couple relief appearances, he’d had three starts for Cincinnati: May thirteenth at San Francisco he went 8 innings, gave up three runs on six hits; May nineteenth against Colorado he went 5 and a third, gave up six runs on eight hits; May twenty-fourth against Cleveland he went 5 innings, gave up three runs on six hits. Not too bad for a fill-in guy, two decent starts, one bad one. But: thirteen walks, only ten strikeouts, and four homers in eighteen-plus innings as a starter, two per game.

So, feast or famine? You never know with our guys, do you?

The auguries weren’t great in the first inning. Billy Hamilton, the speedy Reds’ centre fielder, leadoff hitter, and base stealer, essentially stole a run on the Jays after Marcus Stroman committed a mental mistake on a fundamental baseball play, so the Jays were down 1-0 before even getting to see what Mr. Bonilla was all about.

Hamilton bunted his way on with a good one back to Stroman on the first pitch of the game. Then he stole second while Stroman fanned Zach Cozart, tonight’s Cincinnati DH. Then Stroman picked him off with one of his patented hesitation, I see you, I got you, moves. But then he goofed. When a pitcher has a runner picked off, we used to teach in Mosquito ball (ages nine and ten), there should only be one throw. The pitcher runs at the runner, who freezes and then has to go somewhere. Whichever direction he goes, the pitcher times his toss and bang, he’s out. But Stroman forgot his training, and threw to Josh Donaldson at third from the mound while Hamilton scampered back to second. The problem is that when you play it like that, the runner has time to get back to the base safely while the defense is making two relatively long throws. It was an ouch moment for Stroman and the Jays.

So then Hamilton tried to steal third while Joey Votto was swinging away. Donaldson saved Stroman’s carcass for the moment. Breaking for the bag to cover a throw on Hamilton, the third baseman had to stop as Hamilton went by him, reverse and backhand the grounder that Votto had hit behind where he was running. Somehow he made the grab and threw Votto out at first, leaving Hamilton finally at third, but with two outs. With this play Donaldson looked like the circus strong man of old. But Adam Duvall picked up Hamilton with a clutch two-out base hit, and Stroman got to wear his mistake. Plus, it took him 27 pitches and numerous throws over to get out of the inning.

Now down 1-0, it was time for Lisalverto Bonilla to confront the formidable Toronto lineup. Well, that was quick if sloppy on both sides. Kevin Pillar lofted an easy fly to centre on a 3-1 pitch. Donaldson took a four-pitch walk. Jose Bautista forced him at second, and Kendrys Morales pounded one at the rover, but it went down as a simple

4-3 groundout to end the inning. Sixteen pitches, and nobody took advantage of the initial wildness of Bonilla.

Stroman settled right in and retired the side easily in order in the second. Just don’t ask Kevin Pillar how easy it was. At least not until his bruises heal. Scott Schebler is a tank of a guy who patrols right field more like a wide receiver than a tank, and happened to be leading these homer-heavy Reds with fifteen coming into tonight’s game. Schebler got one up in his wheelhouse from Stroman and hit it straight over Pillar’s head. Pillar went into his jackrabbit mode and raced back, knowing, he said later, that he was going to have to hit the wall to make the catch. He hit the wall and made the catch, somehow hanging onto it while he bounced back off the wall like a bean bag. He landed on his feet and finished off with a stylish back-pedal trot that surely masked big pain.

After the Pillar catch, Stroman saved his fielders more grief by fanning catcher Devin Mesoraco and second baseman Scooter Gennett.

It was time for Toronto to go to work on Bonilla and that 1-0 deficit.

It only took two hitters for the Blue Jays to spring in front, a lead they never relinquished. The new-fangled Justin Smoak cut down his swing on 3-2 to hit a single to centre. Russell Martin was up next and he fouled off a fast ball up and out in the zone, but put a good hit on the second pitch, a changeup in the same place. It looked like a moderately threatening fly ball to right, but it just kept going, and Martin trotted home behind Smoak. Devon Travis took a flyer at hitting one out to right as well with one out, but Schebler backed into the wall for a leaping catch. Bonilla walked Zeke Carrera, but Pillar grounded out to end the inning.

Stroman, finding his groove, retired the side again in the top of the third, making a nice play on a comebacker by shortstop Jose Peraza for the first out when the ball ricocheted off his foot and he had to pounce on it and throw.

Came the bottom of the third, and last call for both Bonilla and the Reds. It was an early night indeed. Channelling Winston Churchill, if the top of the third was the end of the beginning, the bottom of the third was the beginning of the end for Cincinnati.

After Josh Donaldson led off by beating out an infield single to third, Bonilla’s propensity for wildness came into play and finished him off. He wild-pitched Donaldson to second, walked Bautista, and then Morales to load the bases. Justin Smoak scorched one down the first base line, and were it not for a gritty dive into foul territory by local boy Joey Votto he would have had a double and counted two. As it was, it was a three-unassisted out that scored Donaldson with the third Toronto run. Bonilla then reloaded the bases by walking Martin on four pitches, bringing Troy Tulowitzki to the plate.

And Reds’ manager Bryan Price to the mound to take the ball from Bonilla, after two and a third innings, three runs, and three hits, but five walks, a wild pitch, and three left on for Robert Stephenson, a big young right-hander who started a few games for the Reds last year but has been used largely in middle relief so far this year. He also hadn’t pitched in eight days, which made him a candidate to eat some innings for the Reds. It also may have left him a little rusty. After Tulo disdained a low outside strike, Stephenson came in with a second four-seamer, up and in, and he might as well have kissed it goodbye before it left his hand, because Tulo crushed it for a grand slam and the Jays were ahead 7-1.

Devon Travis followed with a single to extend his hit streak to thirteen, and Zeke Carrera singled him to second before Stephenson got Pillar to ground into a double play.

From this point on, the game became a matter of endurance. For the Reds, it was a question of the endurance of the two poor guys on the hill who were tasked with taking punishment for the rest of the game. For the Jays it was a question of the endurance of their hitters who had to keep trudging to the plate and running to first and rounding the bases; god, it was tiring. And for the ball boys it was a matter of keeping up the supply of unbruised baseballs for the umpires.

Kidding aside, there were three story lines to follow once the game was 7-1 and unofficially out of hand. First and foremost, lest it be forgotten, Marcus Stroman settled in and delivered a strong performance again. And he was followed by more efficiency from a bullpen that has logged a ton of innings. Second, of course, were the booming bats. Tribute must be paid. Finally, a word or two on the unsung heroes of baseball, the guys who have to go long and suck it up for the team when they’re getting shellacked.

By the end of the third inning, the only dark cloud hanging over Toronto’s head(s) was the pitch count by Stroman. Thanks to the long first, he was up to 55 pitches. Stroman has not breezed this year, nor has he been dominant. He has been resilient, however, and has managed to work out of a lot more jams for himself, sometimes very efficiently.

In the fourth inning he gave up two-out singles to Eugenio Suarez and Scott Schebler before getting Devin Mesoraco to hit into a fielder’s choice. He expended another 18 pitches to accomplish this, taking him to 73, and another inning like this would be his last. Understand here that with the Jays’ lead up to 10-1 by the end of the fourth, the issue here was not worry about the Reds mounting a comeback on Stroman, but the need to limit the number of innings the bullpen would have to work.

But despite the fact that he hit Scooter Gennett to lead off the fifth, and gave up a solo homer to Adam Duvall in he sixth, he worked through the two innings in a total of 24 pitches, limiting the bullpen exposure to three innings of work. Typically, he was helped out by a double play after the hit batsman in the fifth, as Jose Peraza lined out to Justin Smoak who easily doubled Gennett off first.

One of the supreme ironies of life in the major leagues is that a younger players, or one with less MLB experience, can be faced with the fact that regardless of the service he’s provided, can become the odd man out when roster changes have to be made. No one would dispute the value that Dominic Leone has provided to the Toronto bullpen. Tonight he added to his lustrous record by pitching the seventh and eighth innings, giving up one walk, facing only seven batters and needing only 19 pitches to do it.

Leone has pitched 24 and two thirds innings in 21 appearances. He has struck out 25 batters, and has an ERA of 4.01, largely in the role of first man in when the starter comes up short, for example in the sixth inning. You cannot over-value his worth to Toronto’s hard-working bullpen this spring.

Yet, Jay Happ is coming off the disabled list to make a start tomorrow night and the team needs to make room for him on the active roster. Leone has “options” left, which means that for the entire year he can be sent back and forth between the Blue Jays and Buffalo as many times as the Jays want without ever being exposed to waivers or needing to be released. You will recall that Ryan Tepera experienced this last year. Despite his fine work, Leone is the least valuable member of the bullpen who can be optioned, ranking behind Danny Barnes and Joe Biagini in that regard. The other possibility of making room for Happ would be to cut J.P. Howell, a free agent signee. But the Jays invested three million in Howell, and it’s too early to give up on him, since they’re on the hook for his salary. He’s also a lefty, a rare bird these days.

So, we will learn tomorrow sometime that Dominic Leone is off to Buffalo, and if Toronto needs him in the sixth inning again tomorrow night, since he only threw 19 pitches tonight, too bad, he’s not on the roster.

Speaking of Howell, John Gibbons figured that with a fifteen-run lead, it would be a good time to air out his arm, so he was brought on to mop up for Toronto in the top of the ninth. He was fine, giving up a single to Scott Schebler, striking out Eugenio Suarez, and benefitting from two sharp and proficient plays on ground balls by sub third baseman Russell Martin. 22 pitches, and Cincinnati’s misery was done.

Now let’s turn to that fifteen-run lead. When last we checked, Tulo had cleared the bases in the third to put Toronto ahead 7-1. In the fourth Bautista nearly missed clearing the wall in left with a shot that went for a double. Stephenson issued a walk to Morales, and then coughed up a three-run homer to centre by Justin Smoak. Russell Martin followed with a single to left, but made an odd decision to try to stretch it into a double, and paid for his hubris by being easily thrown out by Adam Duvall.

Hubris? Smoak just extended the lead to 10-1 in only the fourth inning. There is a strong sentiment in baseball against “piling on”, and generally a team with a big lead will start to play “station to station” ball, i.e., doing nothing aggressive on the bases, playing it one base at a time. This style would have suggested to Martin to check in at first and be happy with that. In station-to-station ball, you obviously take the sure double; otherwise the game would be a farce. But trying to stretch a possible double . . . As I said, he paid for it, so fair enough.

The Toronto fifth inning was a hot sticky mess for Cincinnati, a mess they brought on themselves. Devon Travis led off with—what else—a double, and Zeke Carrera hit one to right so hard off the wall that Travis had to stop at third and Carrera held up with a single. Then Reds’ pitcher Robert Stephenson balked Travis home and Carrera to second. Then it got worse. The official scoring has it that Kevin Pillar reached on a fielder’s choice to the shortstop. What happened was that Carrera wandered off second with the ball in front of him, got caught in a rundown, but then got tangled up with third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who was called for obstruction (second time in a Jays’ game in what? Ten days?) Carrera was awarded third while Pillar took second.

Donaldson plated the second run of the inning with a grounder to shortstop, with Pillar holding second. Bautista advanced him to third with an infield hit and he scored on another single by Morales. With the score now 13-1, manager Brian Price finally pulled the beleaguered Stephenson and put in Jake Buchanan—little did he know—who gave up a single to Martin to load the bases, but then retired the side without further damage.

After a good sixth inning for Buchanan, in which he only gave up a base hit to Carrera, Buchanan ran into trouble of his own in the seventh, and the Jays extended their lead to 15-2 with an RBI double by Martin and an RBI single by Travis.

Buchanan added to his own woes in the eighth when a walk and a hit batter contributed to yet another two-run uprising by Torono, upping the ante to its final total of 17 runs on 23 hits. Ryan Goins knocked in one run with an opposite-field single to left with the bases loaded, and then Devon Travis knocked in the other with an opposite-field single to right with the bases loaded. Notice here only one run scoring on each bases-loaded hit. Station-to-station baseball.

So that’s about how you score 17 runs in a ball game.

Out of a sense of compassion, however, the story doesn’t end there, because we need to say a word or two about those unsung heroes of the baseball world, the pitchers who get to “suck it up” and “take one for the team” during a blowout, so that the bullpen won’t be totally destroyed for the next game.

In this case there were only two hapless souls, Robert Stephenson who relieved the starter Bonilla, and Jake Buchanan who mopped up after Stephenson. In many ways it’s a minor miracle that Reds’ manager Bryan Price was able to get away with using only two relief pitchers in this game, considering that the starter only lasted two and a third innings, and that the two relievers were peppered with twenty hits, ten off each, in the course of their work.

Major league managers and pitching coaches have to take the long view. It’s a gruelling season, with by far the most regular-season games in professional sports, and the daily grind of an average of six games a week is unrelenting. Coaching staffs always have to deploy their pitchers with one eye on the game they’re in, and one eye on the road ahead. That’s why, whenever a starting pitcher has a short outing, whether because of injury or because of being shelled, the first thing to come to mind is the need for “innings” from the bullpen. Most relievers are trained to go all out for one inning, but you have to have a couple of guys who can go two or even three if need be.

If a start is cut short because of injury, the manager is going to deploy the bullpen to try to keep the game close as long as he can. He not only wants “innings”, but good “innings”. But if the starter is bombed and has to be pulled early, the next game, and the next, come into play. In this case, the manager just wants “innings”, good, bad, or indifferent: here’s the ball, he says, it’s yours until your arm starts to hurt. If it damages your ERA I’m sorry, but it’s a team sport.

That’s why you have to tip your cap to the Robert Stephensons and the Jake Buchanans of the baseball world. When it became obvious that Bonilla had to come out, the game was still only 3-1 Toronto, but with one out and the bases loaded it was teetering on the edge, and fell over into blowout territory with Stephenson’s second pitch to Tulo. Still, teams have come back from 7-1 down, but when Smoak hit the three-run homer in the fourth off Stephenson, that was it. Stephenson was then condemned not only to finish the inning but to go as long as he could in the next.

That’s why he ended up with a line of 2 innings, 7 runs, 6 earned, 10 hits, 1 walk, and no strikeouts on 55 pitches.

And that’s why, when Bryan Price handed the ball to Jake Buchanan with one out in the bottom of the fifth he would have said something to the effect of “if you can get us to the end of this game, you’re it; if you don’t see anybody warming up it’s because there won’t be.”

And so Buchanan, in his first appearance with the Reds since being called up from their Triple A team, ended up going 3 and two thirds innings, giving up 4 runs on 10 hits with a walk and a strikeout on 61 pitches. To be fair to Price, Buchanan, who hasn’t had more than a cup of coffee in the big leagues since 2014, his first season in the majors, had been used exclusively as a starter in Triple A, and was averaging over five innings per start over eight starts this spring.

Still, it’s easy to imagine the poignancy behind the laconic statement in the play-by-play account of the game that Buchanan received a “Coaching visit to the mound” in the eighth inning, with two outs, runners on second and third, the score 17 to 2 Toronto, and Zeke Carrera, who’d gone four for four to that point in the game, coming to bat. Oh, and a bad matchup for the right-handed Buchanan.

The coach was actually the manager, Bryan Price, and there was no one up in the Cincinnati bullpen.

I have little doubt that Price’s message to Buchanan was something to the effect of, “Son, when this is over, I’m going to buy you a nice big steak, and a nice bottle of wine, because I owe you big time.”

And baseball fans everywhere owe it big time to that last guy in the bullpen, the one who sometimes has to suck it up.