I had a bad feeling about tonight’s game against the league-leading Orioles right from the first at bat. After having been cuffed around by seriously hard contact in three of his last four outings, those of us on the Blue Jays Watch have been wondering when the real Marcus Stroman would return to the rotation. Or, worse, some have been wondering if what we’ve seen lately is the real Marcus Stroman, and that bouncy, irrepressible little guy whose stuff just couldn’t be hit has been the impostor all along.
Adam Jones’ leadoff walk in the top of the first was no small hint that the jury is still out on the real Marcus Stroman. Jones bunted at the first pitch, which was down in the zone, and looked overmatched fouling off the second pitch for an 0-2 count. Then Stroman started trying to get Jones to commit on the outside half of the plate, but with such poor location that Jones didn’t bite, and four consecutive balls gave him his base.
Ever since Stroman returned from the disabled list last September, he has been thriving on a steady stream of ground-ball outs. He got one from Hyun Soo Kim, but it was a tricky ball to Justin Smoak’s right, there was no play at second, and Stroman had to hustle to beat Kim to the bag at first and take the throw. No double play, runner in scoring position. We were about to find out which Stroman was pitching tonight. Manny Machado turned on one and doubled into the left-field corner, scoring Jones. Stroman braced up enough to fan Chris Davis for the second out, but Mark Trumbo, who’s been on a power trip lately, in a good way, hit a shot to right, a double all the way. But Stroman lucked out to get out of the inning, because Machado forgot there were two outs and went back to tag, as it looked like Jose Bautista had a chance to catch Trumbo’s drive. Bautista’s throw was turned over by Darwin Barney on a fabulous catch-and-relay play, and the late-for-dinner Machado was out at the plate on a close tag play. The Orioles appealed the call, but the eyes in the sky upheld the out call, and Stroman escaped down only 1-0, but a troubling walk and two hard extra-base hits did not reassure.
In the bottom of the first, the Jays immediately set out to erase the slim lead, and to show that they were ready to produce some runs if they were on offer. If there is a weak link in the Orioles’ lineup it’s been their starting pitching. Tyler Wilson, with a season ERA of just under five, had been mediocre-minus in his last three starts, garnering two losses and a no decision while giving up 13 earned runs, in 15.4 innings. If anything, he was on shakier ground than Stroman right from the start. Jose Bautista led off with a double to left, and moved up on a wild pitch while Wilson was walking Josh Donaldson. Edwin Encarnacion scored Bautista with a deep sacrifice fly to centre on which Donaldson also alertly moved up. Michael Saunders followed with a double to right to score Donaldson, and with two outs after a Justin Smoak strikeout, Russell Martin, swinging on 3-0 pitch, lined one smartly up the middle to score Saunders.
Well okay, then, we got the run back, and two more for the lead, with sharp contact with ducks on the pond, even with two outs. Now for the cliché. It was crucial for Marcus Stroman to come out and show his appreciation for the support with a shutdown inning, and he got it, but the omens weren’t great. With one out, Pedro Alvarez singled to right, and then Jonathan Schoop hit a shot to centre, but right at Kevin Pillar. Ryan Flaherty then grounded out to short to end the inning.
Our boys picked up another run in their half of the second with some more crisp stick work. Devon Travis led off with a double to left, moved up to third on that rarest of rare Blue Jay offspring, the right-side ground-out with a runner on second, by the very competent Darwin Barney, and then scored on Bautista’s second hit, a full-count liner to right crafted to score the run. Good work from one of the big guys we need to see delivering.
With an add-on run in the second for a four-one lead, the good starting pitcher settles in and starts to eat up some innings to make it easier for his bullpen to close out the win. Well, yes, but not tonight, and not Stroman. Three batters and eleven pitches in, and the Orioles had the bases loaded and nobody out. Worse, singles by Jones and Machado were sandwiched around Stroman plunking Kim on the hip with a a 2-2-pitch. Machado’s hit to left was so hard that Jones had been held at third. Chris Davis then hit the ball solidly to right, scoring Jones on the sac fly, with Kim holding at second. Trumbo bounced a single through the left side to load them up again, and Matt Wieters scored Kim on a fielder’s choice. Stroman froze Alvarez for the third out, but the damage was done, on a mix of more sharply-hit balls and good situational hitting by the Orioles, and the Jays’ lead had been cut to one.
A word here about the missing Troy Tulowitzki: conventional wisdom has it that since Tulo has been struggling at the plate, the Jays aren’t losing a lot with Barney, Travis, and Goins sharing time around the keystone. But to my eye, both of the O’s hits to left field might have turned out differently with Tulo in the field. Don’t get me wrong, here. Darwin Barney can’t be faulted on either of them, but maybe the taller Tuller reaches the Jones liner that Barney just missed. And maybe Tulo makes one of his patented circle-to-the-right-pick-it-and-throw-off-balance plays to get Wieters. Again, not Barney’s fault, because Tulo is the only shortstop in the game today who makes that play routinely, but still, Tulo’s on the DL, Barney’s playing short. Jus’ sayin’.
Wilson had a better third, stranding a two-out walk. The fourth innings was good for the Jays on both ends. For just a few minutes Stroman was the Stroman of old, inducing three ground balls, two right back to him, on just eight pitches. Then in the bottom of the inning we came through with yet another two-out uprising, as Josh Donaldson tripled home Bautista, who had walked. After four, Stroman had a two-run lead to work with, but he didn’t get to enjoy the air at that heady altitude for long.
The fifth was quiet again for both sides. Stroman worked around a bloop single to left by Chris Davis, abandoning him at second after he had let him move up on a wild pitch, and the Jays went out in order against Wilson, who had recovered nicely from his rocky start. The only thing notable about the inning was that Stroman had taken 22 pitches to deal with his four hitters, leaving his count for the game at a rather high 86. He would be on a short leash in the sixth, and the bullpen would have to respond as well as it did yesterday afternoon in Detroit.
Yes, he was on a short lease, and no, the bullpen didn’t save the day. After getting Matt Wieters to ground out to third to lead off the sixth, Stroman looked on in dismay as the left-handed-hitting Pedro Alvarez reached across and stroked an outside pitch over the fence in left centre, to cut the lead back to one. That was it for Stroman, after a less-than-masterful five and a third innings. Joe Biagini came in to pick him up, and emerged from the inning with the fragile lead intact, despite giving up a double and a walk in the interim. In the bottom of the inning, Wilson was pulled with Kevin Pillar on first after a leadoff bunt single and two outs. Manager Buck Showalter called on Dylan Bundy, and the game was in the hands of both bullpens.
Briefly put, the Orioles’ bullpen held, and the Jays didn’t. Bundy stayed on right through the eighth, wobbling a bit after coming on in the sixth, pitching a clean seventh, and wobbling a bit again in the eighth, but pitching his way out of it. He ended up getting the win for the Orioles, and was well deserving of it. On the other hand, the Jays’s relievers failed to keep the lid on. Biagini was pulled with one out in the seventh to have Aaron Loup pitch against the left-handed Chris Davis, who belted one out the wrong way to left to tie the game. Exit Loup, one more lefty-lefty matchup having failed, and enter Gavin Floyd, who mopped up the seventh with no further damage.
Manager John Gibbons then turned the ball over for the eighth to Jason Grilli, who impressed with two strikeouts, though he also issued a walk. After Bundy managed to keep the tie in play through the eighth, Gibbie brought in Roberto Osuna to hold the fort until the Jays could win it in the bottom of the ninth. Of course, the Osuna who is not fired up so much when the save isn’t on the line was the one who arrived from the bullpen, and a leadoff double to Kim pretty well sealed the deal for the Orioles, who do so well at getting that guy in from second. We should be so skilled. Double, advance on a ground ball, score on a sacrifice fly. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?
Zach Britton only took eight pitches to secure the save in the bottom of the ninth, the wind having gone out of the Jays’ sails long since.
Judging from last year’s exhilarating charge in August and September, it’s far from too late for the Jays to begin making a move on Baltimore and Boston, but it sure would be good to cut the lead as much as possible in these upcoming games with Baltimore. Let’s start with three out of four here this weekend. And who better to start that move than Marco Estrada?
As for Marcus Stroman, there’s no real reason for Gibbie to stop running him out there every fifth day. The way he’s going now, he’s probably significantly better than most other teams’ bottom-end rotation guys, but we expect, we need, so much more from him! Surely there’s someone in the organization who knows how to guide him back to the summit. Let’s get working on it, guys!
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