When your team’s lost three of its first four games of the season, it’s hard to go all aesthetic anticipating the cold, hard brilliance of a great pitching duel.
Baseball is a spectacle, a dance, a military tattoo. For most of the season, for its most perceptive fans, it’s a game for which the process, not the product, is its essence.
And yet it is impossible to absorb and appreciate the process without taking sides. Once you’ve taken sides you can no longer be indifferent to the product.
Winning counts, dammit. It tastes good. When your team is winning, everything is awash in a glow of celestial light. The most mundane play is a thing of beauty. The squibbiest of hits is a cause for joy. When you’re winning, you can sit back and smell the roses, and after each win the phrase “what a beautiful game” never loses its savour.
But losing hurts, dammit. It leaves the taste of ashes in your mouth. When you’re losing, every pitch is fraught. Every swing is fraught. Every play might contain the seeds of destruction. A good play brings no joy, for it only serves to ward off the inevitable, crucial failure just around the corner, the failure that will lead to another loss.
So for yer humble scribe, there was no joy, only tension and fear, in looking forward to this evening’s matchup between two of the premier pitchers in the American League, Chris Archer and Aaron Sanchez.
Both pitchers have something to prove in this first week of the 2017 season.
Archer, 28, four years older than Sanchez, with nearly four full seasons under his belt, had entered 2016 with high expectations, following a 2015 record that wasn’t marked so much by his 12-13 record, or even his very decent ERA of 3.23, but by the fact that he had amassed 252 strikeouts in 212 innings. In 2015 Chris Archer had declared himself to be a power pitcher extraordinaire.
But Archer had a tough, really tough, 2016. It wasn’t so much his record, which bottomed out at 9-19 (not a big deal on a team that went 68-94) with an ERA of 4.02, or even a fall-off in his power numbers, pitching 201.1 innings and amassing 233 strikeouts. What was really frustrating was that he had to work hard in the second half of the year just to get to those levels. The first half of his season was littered with short starts and periods of uncharacteristic lack of command.
So Chris Archer is a man on a mission in 2017. He had a solid first start against the Yankees on Opening Day, and was looking to build on that tonight.
The task for Aaron Sanchez for 2017 is a very different one. There’s no need to say much about the season-long discussion of limits to Sanchez’ work load last year. Suffice to say that we all know now that as long as he was dominant they would find a way to keep him in the rotation. Which they did, and which worked out brilliantly. He was strong to the end, and finished at 15-2 and won the American League ERA title at 3.00. It’s a feat in itself for an AL East starter to have the lowest ERA in the league, let alone coming from a guy the health of whose arm was a constant topic of discussion.
Now, in 2017, the limits are off, and Toronto’s management is going to treat Aaron Sanchez as the big boy that he is. The question he faces is how he will respond over the course of the full season. He’ll be expected to log ten to twenty more innings, and will certainly be a big-game pitcher for the Jays. (Though the conundrum still is, how do you pick your big-game guy out of Sanchez, Jay Happ, Marco Estrada, and especially the resurgent Marcus Stroman?)
So, two guys on a mission, with the added fillip that Toronto, now one and three for the season, gets a little more desperate for a breakout win with each passing loss. How did they do?
Well, toe to toe, they were fabulous. Archer went seven and two thirds innings, gave up two runs on five hits, walked three and struck out eight on 114 pitches, which I thought was a bit much for his second start of the season, but that was Manager Kevin Cash’s call, and I suppose after getting a lot of innings out of his bullpen the previous two games, Cash needed to stretch Archer as much as he could. In any case, Archer’s a grown-up, and perfectly capable of letting the manager know when he’s done.
Manager John Gibbons shook hands with his starter at the end of seven, Sanchez having given up one run on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts on 101 pitches.
The only blemish on Sanchez’ record came in the fifth, when Tampa scratched out a run on two base hits and a walk, with Corey Dickerson producing the RBI with a one-out single. The only other inning he allowed more than one base runner was in the fourth, when with two outs he walked Brad Miller and gave up a single to Steven Souza before striking out Logan Morrison with a wicked curve ball down and in that Morrison fouled into catcher Russell Martin’s glove.
As for Archer, he went Sanchez a couple better in the first six innings, retiring twelve in a row before yielding a leadoff base hit to Kendrys Morales in the fifth, but limited to the minimum number of batters when Steve Pearce hit into an inning-ending double play. In the sixth, he gave up a two-out single to Kevin Pillar which came to nothing.
So Archer came to the seventh with a one-run lead, and no reason to feel threatened. But then Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista worked him for leadoff walks. Archer induced a double-play ball to second from Morales that moved Donaldson to third, but Troy Tulowitzki came through with a ground-ball single to left to score Donaldson and tie the game.
As mentioned, Cash sent Archer out for the eighth, and it turned out to be an inning to far for his ace. He walked Russell Martin and gave up a single to Justin Smoak, Martin smartly going to third on the hit. Archer looked to be working out of it, as Kevin Pillar fouled out to the catcher and Devon Travis took a four-seamer right down Broadway on an 0-2 pitch. But once again a veteran came through with the two-out run-producer for the Jays, as Josh Donaldson scored Martin with a hard ground-ball single up the middle.
That was it for Archer, who departed on the short end of a 2-1 Jays’ lead. Tommy Hunter came in and struck out Jose Bautista on three pitches to end the inning.
Once again the game was in the hands of the bullpens, and it was all on Toronto to hold the slim lead.
In the absence of Roberto Osuna John Gibbons’ flexibility to manage his bullpen is hampered, and it’s just such a situation as this where it most comes into play. He called on Joe Biagini to start the eighth, and the two situations in which Biagini excelled last year were coming in mid-inning to put out a fire, and starting an inning no later than the seventh.
Maybe this was a factor, and maybe it was that the Rays were up for it, but after getting Kevin Kiermaier on a come-backer for the first out, Biagini gave up a single to Evan Longoria, walked Brad Miller, and gave up the run-producing single to the awesome Steven Souza. That was it for the Rays as Biagini went on to retire the side, but the damage was done and at the end of eight it was tied at 2.
From this point there was again a feeling of sad inevitability if your hopes were tied to Toronto’s fortunes. It’s now almost traditional to use your closer at home in a tie game in the ninth. Essentially you’re rolling the dice on a shut-down followed by a walkoff win. Kevin Cash accordingly brought Alex Colome in to face the Jays in the top of the ninth, and he was just as effective as the night before, dispatching Morales, Tulo, and Pearce on 13 pitches.
Playing the road team manager, John Gibbons held back his putative closer, Jason Grilli, and sent Biagini out for a second inning. One thing we did learn about Biagini last year is that he’s certainly up to two-inning stints, and this time he managed to keep the Rays at bay, though not without drama, having to retire Kevin Kiermaier on a grounder to second to end the inning with the wondrously speedy Maxell Smith just ninety feet away at third.
Biagini had walked Smith, retired Tim Beckham when the latter popped up a lame bunt attempt, given up a stolen base to Smith, and wild-pitched him to third while striking out Corey Dickinson, setting up the game-saving Kiermaier groundout.
Xavier Cedeno came on for the Rays in the tenth, and didn’t hel his team’s cause, walking Russell Martin leading off, followed by a successful sacrifice bunt by Zeke Carrera. That was it for Cedeno, and Cash made his best call of the game, bringing Erasmo Ramirez to hold the fort until the Rays could walk it off. Brad Miller at second ably assisted Ramirez in keeping the game even, though, because he ranged far to his right and skidded on his knees to corral a sure ground-ball single by Kevin Pillar, and still managed to throw the quick Pillar out while Martin moved up to third. Devon Travis flied out to centre to end the threat.
Now it was Jason Grilli’s turn for Toronto, and he did the job, with attendant drama galore, as usual. With one out Brad Miller topped a bleeder into no-man’s land between the pitcher and first base for an infield hit. Bad Man Souza singled to centre, Miller stopping at second. Logan Morrison bounced into a 3-6 fielder’s choice, advancing Miller to third with two out. Rickie Weeks hit for catcher Derek Norris, and Grilli went upstairs with heat to fan him to end the threat. Cue the fist pump, but of course it wasn’t over.
Ramirez continued his mastery over the Jays in the top of the eleventh, using only nine pitches to retire the heart of the Toronto order. Donaldson grounded out to the second baseman in the shift, and Bautista and Morales both struck out.
In the bottom of the eleventh, John Gibbons showed himself either admirably supportive of all of his bullpen, or foolhardy in the extreme, by turning things over to Casey Lawrence, just swapped in to the big league roster while Dominic Leone was sent back for a short rest with Buffalo. Lawrence couldn’t have had his feet closer to the fire for his major league debut than to come in to a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eleventh in Tampa, home of the Blue Jay eaters. (I guess that makes sense: surely devil rays would be capable of gobbling up blue jays. Whether they’d want to is another story, of course.)
It only took one batter to determine that Lawrence’s debut would not be a good-news story. Mallex Smith, he of the flashing feet, pulled one into right field that went for an easy double. With Smith on second and nobody out, you needed the faint hope clause just to imagine that the Rays wouldn’t finish things off right then.
Kevin Cash asked Beckham to bunt again and this time, mirabile dictu!, he delivered, pushing Smith to third with one out. Now conventional wisdom was applied, but with the latest, silliest twist: Gibbie elected to load the bases by walking Dickerson and Kiermaier, so they took their bases without ever stepping into the batter’s box, as per the new rule eliminating the need to throw four balls for an intentional pass. Imagine the seconds we saved here! Even with a force at every base, things looked bleak with Evan Longoria at the plate but the 29-year-old Lawrence was up to the occasion, and blew Longoria away, bringing Brad Miller to the plate.
Was it too much to ask for Casey to do it again? Um, yep. Miller wouldn’t commit on a high inside sinker that didn’t, and took his base while Mallex Smith strolled home with the winning run.
I don’t mind walkoff celebrations, as long as they don’t result in a stupid injury, but I think it was a bit much that they mobbed Miller and dumped water over his head just because he had the common sense not to swing at a pitch that wasn’t even close. A little restraint, please, fellas, okay?
Another disappointing day at the ball yard, I mean ball cave, so disappointing that the dual pitching gems were largely forgotten in the aftermath. That’s a shame, and a disservice to Aaron Sanchez and Chris Archer, neither of whom figured in the decision, of course.
One more game in Tampa, and a chance to split this series and come home two and four, which at the moment sounds a lot better than one and five.
We can only hope.
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