Before we get all tangled up in following the consequences of Terry Francona’s decision to raid his rotation on Friday to win the 19-inning game, let’s just get one thing clear: the operative number in the score of today’s game is the “one” next to the Indians’ name. The Jays didn’t win this game primarily because they chased Indians’ ace Cory Kluber early, or because they beat up on an exhausted Tribe bullpen, or because they forced Francona to use a catcher to pitch the last two innings. They won it because Jay Happ pitched a brilliant seven innings, and Drew Storen and Aaron Loup completely closed the door in the eighth and ninth with the pressure off. Whether the score ended up two to one or seventeen to one, this game was won by Jays’ pitching.
After Happ stranded a one-out Jason Kipnis double in the top of the first, one of only five hits he would give up in his seven innings, Russell Martin followed a Josh Donaldson single and a Michael Saunders double with a two-out, three-run homer, giving the Jays a 3-0 lead. It was basically over at that point, barring any breakdown on Happ’s part, and they could have mailed in the results right away, and saved a lot of wear and tear not only on the baseball supply, but also on the egos of Kluber, Tom Gorzelanny, Tommy Hunter, and Chris Gimenez.
There wasn’t going to be any breakdown on Happ’s part today. He gave up one run on five hits in his seven innings, walked none, and struck out eleven. Besides Kipnis in the first, the only baserunners he allowed were a double by Carlos Santana, whom he stranded at third in the fifth, and the three consecutive singles in the seventh that produced the Indians’ only run, driven in by former Jay Yan Gomes. Even in the seventh, in what was to be his last inning, he caught Abraham Almonte looking for the third out, with Jose Ramirez at third and Gomes at first, to go out with flair. Neither Drew Storen, with one strikeout, nor Aaron Loup, with two, allowed a baserunner on mop-up duty.
In keeping with my contention that the Jays’ starting pitching is their strong point, regardless of how well the offence does, I thought I’d start looking at each series they play, to make the simple comparison of how many innings are thrown by the Jays’ starters and their opponents. In this series, for example, Happ today and R.A. Dickey went seven innings each, and Marcus Stroman pitched in (sorry about that) 6.2 innings. Marco Estrada, struggling with his back issue, had the shortest outing, at five innings. For those of you who aren’t keeping score at home, that’s 25 and two thirds innings worked by Jays’ starters in the four games. Carlos Corrasco went 7.1 innings on Thursday night in his gem of a start. Josh Tomlin went six on Friday, but Cory Kluber went only 3.1 today, and let’s give manager Terry Francona the benefit of the doubt, and count the 3.2 innings contributed by Shawn Morimando as a start—after all, he was the guy who was designated to eat the innings for the Tribe on Saturday. So, ka-ching, ka-ching, that’s a grand total of 20 and a third innings for Cleveland’s starters in the four-game series. The salient point to be drawn from this little exercise is that, on top of putting in the innings you would expect them to, the Indians’ relievers had to log five and a third more innings of work than the Jays’ bullpen.
Watch this space for future comparisons of starting-pitcher workloads. It’s pretty clear that if they carry on as they have over the first half of the season, the accumulation of “extra” innings by the starters will contribute to a lessening of the workload on the Jays’ relievers, which in turn might help to mask any perceived deficiencies in the Toronto relief corps.
After the Martin home run in the first, Kluber, the putative ace of the Cleveland staff, found himself surrounded by Jays in the second following an error, a walk, a neat sacrifice bunt by Zeke Carrera, and an intentional walk to Josh Donaldson. However, he braced up and fanned Michael Saunders and Edwin Encarnacion to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the third, he gave up a single and a walk but again escaped. Even if he held the Jays in check from this point on, his rising pitch count would guarantee a short day for him.
There was no improvement in the fourth inning, and after four batters he was gone, down 4-0, having given up seven hits and walked four, and thrown 95 pitches over his three and a third innings of work. Zeke Carrera led off the inning with a walk. Josh Donaldson singled him to third. Edwin Encarnacion plated Carrera with a sacrifice fly, the only out Kluber would record in the inning, and Michael Saunders doubled Josh to third. Kluber exited, still responsible for the runners at second and third. Joba Chamberlain came in, and intentionally walked Russell Martin to load the bases (good idea, Terry Francona?), but allowed the sacrifice fly off the bat of Troy Tulowitzki to mark the fifth and final run against Kluber’s ledger for today.
Kluber ended the day’s work with a record of 8-8, and an ERA of 3.79. I notice that his name has come up amidst the swirling speculation about which starting pitchers might make the All-Star team, and I have to wonder, you know? I know Cleveland has played well so far, and compiled a terrific record on the year, but if Cory Kluber is their best starter, I don’t see the Indians as serious post-season threats.
As I warned you, I’m going to return just once more to Terry Francona’s quixoitc decision to use Trevor Bauer in relief in Friday’s baseball-a-thon. Today, Chamberlain gave up an inherited runner in the fourth before finishing off the Jays, and then laboured painfully through the fifth, giving up two walks and seeing Darwin Barney reach on a throwing error by Jason Kipnis, but keeping the Jays from scoring again, while throwing 33 pitches in total over his inning and two thirds.
Obviously, Francona had to go to the pen again for the sixth, and it wasn’t so much that he picked Tom Gorzelanny to come in and try to hold the Jays—remember, the score at this point was 5-0, not insurmountable if Happ should start to struggle, especially for a team that was 49 and 31 going into today’s game. Rather, it was the fact that Gorzelanny, who had only pitched once in the series, throwing six pitches for one out on Friday, was the second last man standing in the Indians’ bullpen. With three innings to go, and four if the Tribe mounted a comeback, Gorzelanny and Tommy Hunter would have to make do between them. But all they managed was the sixth, Francona was out of pitchers, and the Jays’ baserunners were out of breath from circling the bases.
Gorzelanny started by walking Saunders and Martin, and then gave up a three-run homer to Troy Tulowitzky. 8-0. Justin Smoak grounded out to Francisco Lindor, the highlight of Gorzelanny’s day, the only out he would record. Then he walked Junior Lake, and gave up a single to Darwin Barney, the first of three consecutive base hits. Carrera knocked in Lake. Donaldson knocked in Barney. 10-0. It was time to save Gorzelanny from further damage, and Tommy Hunter, the Lonesome Cowboy of Cleveland, came to the rescue. Sort of. Encarnacion doubled in Carrera. 11-0. Saunders singled in Donaldson. 12-0. Martin singled in Encarnacion. 13-0. Seven straight hits, encouragingly, only one of which, the first, left the yard. Mercifully, Tulowitzki popped out and Smoak struck out. The Jays’ lead had grown by eight, the Indians’ bullpen was flat out, and catcher-utility infielder Chris Gimenez, who had been inserted at third at the beginning of the Jays’ sixth, was trotting down to the Cleveland bullpen to start warming up, Goins and Barney redux.
Now, I’ve described these events entirely from the perspective of the Indians’ search for an effective pitcher, any pitcher at all, today, but we should give a nod to the Jays’ hitters as well. This is the first time this season that we’ve seen the line drives to all parts of the park, the passing on of the baton, the stirring of the pot, to use last year’s meme. Gorzellany paid the price for walking the first two batters he faced, but the rest of the Jays’ lineup took matters into their own hands after that. Also encouraging is the continued revitalization of both Tulowitzky and Martin, and the surprisingly strong season-long performance of Saunders at the plate. Looking a good ways down the road, seeing how the deck is stacked for us even with Jose Bautista on the DL, it’s not too hard imagining a future where a solid Jays’ offence has been made secure for the next few years by letting Bautista go, and plowing the money saved into re-signing Encarnacion and Saunders. I have profound respect for Jose Bautista as a consummate professional, and I’ve always been a great supporter of him, but there it is: the Jays actually can live without him.
As we did with Goins and Barney a few days back, we must end with a tip of the cap to Chris Gimenez, who took the mound for the sake of the team, consequences be damned. He had a good seventh inning, in fact, getting three hitters in a row to put the ball in the air for outs. But in the eighth the Jays caught up with him, as an Encarnacion double scored Donaldson from second after he led off with a double. Martin eventually scored Encarnacion with a base hit, and then rode home on Justin Smoak’s ninth homer of the season. Gimenez finally secured the third out, getting Junior Lake to ground out to second, and left the mound with only one consolation: Despite an ERA that read 18.00, he had not been saddled with the loss, so take that, Darwin Barney, with your fancy 9.00 ERA!
So the Indians settle for a split after running their win streak to 14, and the Jays happily take a split after losing the first two of the series. Cleveland goes home licking their wounds, but also licking their chops in anticipation of hosting their division rival Tigers, who haven’t beaten them yet this year. The Jays await the first and only appearance in Toronto this year of the 2015 American League and World Series Champion Kansas City Royals. Pay back time!
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