On one hand, it was a good thing the Blue Jays had a day off to lick their wounds and hit the batting cage to try to shake off the Tampa Torpor that hit them once again this week.
On the other hand, it was a bad thing for the Washington Nationals that the Jays had a day to regroup before taking on the tough Nats, who will be challenging for at least a National League Wild Card slot for the rest of the season.
Against all odds the underperforming Jays laid a three-game whipping on the Nats, thereby poking a stick in the wheels of their playoff pretensions.
Well, maybe not a whipping: the Jays held off Washington Friday night to escape with a 6-5 win that went down to the last pitch. Saturday, Marco Estrada absolutely outpitched the towering talent of Max Scherzer, and Devon Travis crushed his only mistake for a 2-0 team shutout. Sunday it ended up 8-6, as Toronto managed to stay one step ahead, barely, for the whole, exciting, game.
So a 16-11 margin over three games isn’t exactly a “whipping” but the series may have opened a little window on the question of which division is really the strongest in the major leagues. After, all, to turn it around, where would the Jays be if they were in another division, given that they were, as of the sweep in Tampa, a combined 6-19 against Boston, Tampa, and the Yankees?
Leave out the record against those three division rivals and Toronto was 24 and 19 against the rest of the major leagues going into the Washington series. That’s a pretty good go of it, considering that it includes that awful four-game sweep in Oakland. If you add just a 13-12, instead of 6-19, to their record, they’d have been 37-31.
I like inter-league play, though it’s inherently unfair to the American League teams.* The players are different, the pitchers are different, you run into different managerial styles, hell, you even get to see some snazzily different uniforms, with those of the Nats right up at the top of the sartorial rankings.
*It’s unfair that the DH is banned in National League parks. The Senior Circuit teams can easily—happily—adjust to using a DH, but the American League teams, built around having the DH, and with no time to keep pitchers’ bats sharp throughout the season, just for the possibility of an at-bat or two in a game or two, all of these mean that the American League teams are clearly at a disadvantage playing National League rules. And when somebody like Sleepy John Gibbons has to figure out double-switch substitutions and the like, that adds to the disadvantage.
By the way, I referred to the National League as the “Senior Circuit” above. This is common, but ancient, terminology dating back to the days when there was a definite awareness of the fact that the National League had existed for quite some years (25, to be exact, from 1876 to 1901) before the American League was founded. Thus they were often referred to as the “Senior Circuit” and the “Junior Circuit”.
Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, over and above the fact that the Jays swept the Nats on the weekend, this was an exciting series, definitely a cut above your usual three-gamer, and I would certainly attribute this at least partially to the fact that it was inter-league play.
Add to this the fact that the Nats, sigh, used to be the Expos, and there’s another frisson of excitement in the mix. (I forgot, did you? That becausethe Nats are theactual franchise successors of the Expos, all franchise records date back to the founding of the ‘Spos in 1969.)
So, Friday night. It was Aaron Sanchez against Gio Gonzalez.
The Nats scored one in the first and one in the second off Sanchez. In the first he walked Bryce Harper with two outs, Harper stole second, and scored on a base hit by Anthony Rendon. In the second, he gave up another two-out base hit with Juan Soto at third base after a double and a move-em-over ground ball out.
The Jays took the lead in the third in typical Toronto fashion with two dingers. Devon Travis cashed Aledmys Diaz, on with a single. With two outs and nobody on, thanks to a Justin Smoak double-play ball after a walk to Teoscar Hernandez, Yagervis Solarte hit one out to left field.
Sanchez gave up the lead in the fifth on another classic Nats sequence: Trea Turner got a base hit, stole second with two outs, and scored on another Rendon two-out single.
(Sigh.) Where oh where is Toronto’s Anthony Rendon?
Sanchez went out with the game tied after six with a quality start. Gonzalez threw six innings and would have had a Q-start too, if Nats’ manager Dave Martinez hadn’t sent him out for the seventh. He faced two batters. Travis singled and Hernandez hit a ground-rule double.
They both scored off Justin Miller, spoiling Gonzalez’ outing and putting Toronto in front to stay. Justin Smoak plated Travis with a sac fly, and Solarte, hitting from the other side, plated Hernandez with his second homer of the game.
Solartejoined a very small group ofJays’ switch hittersto hit one out from both sides of the plate in the same game.
After Seunghwan Oh retired the side in the seventh and became the pitcher of record thanks to Gonzalez andMartinez, Aaron Loup and John Axford each gave up a run in the eighth to make it close, turning the slim lead over to Ryan Tepera.
Tepera’s ninth was one of those supercharged experiences: great if you survive it, but otherwise don’t even think about it. Wilmer Difo (huh? Named after the distinguished American actor Willem Dafoe?) led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on Brian Goodwin’s first-out fly ball to left. Adam Eaton hit the ground ball he needed, but it was too short to second and Difo didn’t try to score. Trea Turner fanned on a 3-2 pitch for the game.
Yippee! I told you inter-league play was exciting!
But as soon as the game was over the Toronto hitters had to start thinking about facing the inimitable Max Scherzer on Saturday afternoon. Yikes!
Max Scherzer came in to Saturday’s game with a record of ten wins and two losses. His ERA was an even 2.00, and in ten of his fifteen starts so far this year he’d struck out ten or more batters. By his record to June sixteenth he was a clear front-runner for the American League Cy Young Award.
Scherzer delivered on all counts. He gave up four hits in six innings, walked one, and struck out, yes, ten Blue Jays. In fact, Scherzer really made only two mistakes in the game, and they came on consecutive batters in the fifth inning.
With one out Scherzer nicked Luke Maile with a pitch, bringing Devon Travis to the plate. Travis fouled off a fast ball low in the zone. Then Scherzer threw him a slider that stayed up, way up, and Travis didn’t miss it.
Scherzer’s big mistake soared majestically into the 200-level seats above the bullpen in left centre, and Toronto was ahead 2-0 in the game.
Those were the only two runs allowed by Max Scherzer, so we have to call it a typical start for Scherzer. Wander Suero picked up Scherzer in the seventh and eighth, and didn’t allow a baserunner while fanning three.
But the real story Saturday was Marco Estrada. Not to mention Danny Barnes, Aaron Loup, and Tyler Clippard, who held Washington hitless over the last two and a third innings, the only baserunner for the Nats a two-out walk by Aaron Loup in the eighth inning to Trea Turner that brought Bryce Harper to the plate with the tying run.
Loup caught Bryce Harper looking for the third out, to turn the 2-0 shutout over to Tyler Clippard, who retired the side in order in the ninth for the save, striking out the rookie phenom Juan Soto on a 2-2 pitch to end the game.
But let’s go back to the biggest part of the story, and that’s Marco Estrada. First of all, there’s the pitching line. Six and two thirds innings, no runs, three hits (bunt single, line single, double by Trea Turner in the fifth), 2 walks, and four strikeouts, on 108 pitches.
Only Michael A. (Anthony, but why must we?) Taylor solved him to any extent, reaching on a bunt single, striking out, and singling to centre, the hit that ended Estrada’s day. Leadoff hitter Adam Eaton never squared up, grounding out twice and flying out once.
Most notably, Bryce Harper, admittedly mired in a slump, was helpless against Estrada. He popped up once in fair territory, once in foul territory, then in the most significant moment of the game, with Turner on second after his two-out double in the sixth, Estrada crossed him up after going changeup, fast ball, change up, fast ball, with a 2-2 fast ball high on the inside corner that completely froze Harper.
It was also interesting if a little cruel to notice how Estrada carved up the vaunted rookie Juan Soto, striking him out and inducing a groundout, Soto totally off balance both times, before he managed to time him enough to fly out to centre.
So the story of this game was not Max Scherzer, but Marco Estrada, and how great was that?
Sam Gaviglio’s start for Toronto on Sunday was, in retrospect, a case study in how life can sometimes impinge on sport, even for professionals at the highest level.
Although he gave up a first-inning single to Designated Jay Tormenter Anthony Rendon, Gaviglio started like gangbusters, striking out three of the first five hitters he faced, and never throwing a ball outside the strike zone until he went from 0-2 to 3-2 on the sixth batter, Michael A. Taylor, before Taylor grounded a single through the left side with one out in the second.
Things quickly went south on Gaviglio. Taylor stole second. Brian Goodwin grounded out to second with Taylor going to third. Wilmer Difo cashed in Taylor with a base hit. Difo stole second. Spencer Kieboom walked. Russell Martin threw the ball away trying to pick off Difo, who went to third on the error. Gaviglio then balked Difo home before getting Trea Turner out with a called third strike.
In the third he gave up a double to that guy Rendon, and then an RBI single to Daniel Murphy. He was saved further damage by the fact that Murphy tried to go to second on Kevin Pillar’s throw to the plate, and Martin atoned for his earlier error by gunning him down for the second out. The hapless Juan Soto struck out for the second time, this time looking, to end the inning.
Gaviglio had a long fourth inning as well, even though he kept the Nats off the board. Taylor (again) led off with a single and eventually stole second and third before dying there when Turner hit into a fielder’s choice retiring Kieboom, who had walked behind Taylor.
John Gibbons wisely, perhaps, decided that was enough for Gaviglio; for his second start in a row he had failed to go very long, even though his line wasn’t that bad: four innings pitched, two earned runs, six hits, two walks, and a run-producing balk on 77 pitches.
But here’s the thing: we didn’t notice at the time, but Gaviglio didn’t stay on the bench for the rest of the game as is the more recent common practice (nobody sends the pitcher “to the showers” any more: they always stay on the bench unless injured.)
We only learned after the game that by the time it was over Gaviglio was already on a plane heading to San Francisco for a connecting flight to Medford, Oregon, in order to join his wife Alaina, who was about to give birth to their first child.
There had to be a lot of conflicting emotions going on when Gaviglio took the mound on Sunday, and it’s no wonder that he produced such mixed results.
He made it home on time, by the way. His daughter Livia was born early Tuesday morning as he was removed from the roster for the three days’ paternity leave granted to players in the collective agreement.
In any case, Tanner Roark, the Washington starter, had an even choppier start than Gaviglio, and he didn’t even have an excuse. The Jays had touched him for three runs early, so when Gaviglio left the game was tied, and Toronto took the lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth, and would never fall behind in what became a back-and-forth affair, with the Jays taking the lead, the Nats tying it up, and the Jays going ahead again.
After Washington took the lead with the two runs off Gaviglio in the second, Randal Grichuk pulled one back with a two-out solo homer in the bottom of the second. Aledmys Diaz followed with a drive to centre that went for a double, but he was stranded there when Devon Travis hit the ball hard, but right to Wilmer Difo at second for the third out.
The Nats extended their lead to 3-1 off Gaviglio in the third, but Toronto came back with two to tie it when Roark totally lost the plate in the bottom of the inning.
With two outs, Solarte singled. Morales singled him to second. Pillar doubled home Solarte with Morales stopping at third. Then Roark walked Martin on a 2-2 pitch. And then Grichuk on a 3-2 pitch to force in Morales to tie the game.
Morales picked up an RBI in the bottom of the fourth, with, if you can believe it, an infield hit. Travis led off with a base hit, Granderson hit into a fielder’s choice. Hernandez was hit by a pitch from Roark. Solarte hit an easy grounder to second that moved the runners up, bringing Morales to the plate. He hit a grounder in the hole at short and beat it out to first while Granderson scored the lead run.
Toronto was ahead 4-3 after four, Gaviglio was off to his wife’s bedside, and Joe Biagini came in to pitch for the Jays in the top of the fifth. Big Joe had a nice clean inning, holding the Nats off the board just long enough for Grichuk to pad the slim margin with a solo homer, his second of the game, off reliever Shawn Kelley, who took over from Roark in the bottom of the fifth.
Neither the two-run lead nor Joe Biagini survived the Washington sixth, though.
Never one to leave well enough alone, John Gibbons thought he might get another inning from Biagini. After all, he was all stretched out as a starter, you know, and all that . . . And besides, Gibbie just likes the guy, ya know?
So after retiring the leadoff hitter Soto, Biagini gave up a single to Taylor (again) who stole second (again) and scored on a double by Goodwin. Difo singled but Goodwin had to stop at third. Finally Gibbie pulled Biagini for Seunghwan Oh, who gave up a single to pinch-hitter Adam Eaton that scored Goodwin, but Difo was out trying to reach third on the hit, cut down by Hernandez. Turner fouled out to Grichuk to end the inning but there it was, tied up again at fives going to the bottom of the sixth.
Tiny Tim Collins (sorry, but you gotta do it: he’s only 5 foot seven and 168 pounds) had finished off the fifth inning for Shawn Kelley, and gave up a leadoff base hit to Hernandez, but Solarte popped out and Morales hit into another double play, and the game went to the seventh still tied.
John Axford took over for Oh. He struck out Harper and retired Rendon (yay!) and Murphy in order.
Justin Miller was next up on the mound for the Nats, and Pillar led off with a base hit and then stole second. Pillar advanced to third on a deep fly to centre by Martin, and scored on a base hit by Grichuk to give the Jays the lead. Grichuk stole second but died there. Toronto was back in front at 6-5.
The Nats tied the game in the top of the eighth, but it took a miracle and some good work by Ryan Tepera to keep Washington to the one run.
Tyler Clippard started the inning and gave up a base hit to Soto, and then wild pitched him to second. Wild ones in the dirt are an occupational hazard with Clippard because of the nasty low breaking stuff he throws.
After fanning Taylor, Clippard gave up an RBI single to Goodwin, than fanned Difo for the second out.
Gibbie elected to go with Tepera to get the last out, and it was an adventure. With Goodwin on first and two outs, the new Toronto closer walked Pedro Severino, and gave up a little dribbler infield hit to Turner to load the bases before Bryce Harper flew out to end the threat.
The Nats brought in old familiar flame-thrower Ryan Madson, and it was clear that the Blue Jays were not interested in going into extra innings on Father’s Day. After Madson fanned Smoak, he gave up back to back homers to Hernandez and Solarte to give Toronto an 8-6 lead.
Tepera cut off any hope of yet another rally by Washington in the ninth. He caught Rendon looking, fanned Murphy, and retired Soto on a fly ball to centre for the save.
Game, Set and Match to Toronto, as they came home from being swept by Tampa to turn around and sweep the Washington Nationals.
Not exactly revenge, but still sweet.
More inter-league play awaited Toronto; after an off-day Monday, the National League East Division leading Atlanta Braves were coming to town for a two-game set.
My son is taking me to the game as a birthday present. It was supposed to be the return of Jose Bautista to Toronto, but after we got the tickets the Braves released Bautista and he was signed by the Mets. When are the Mets coming to town?
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