ARLINGTON, Texas – Notable milestone aside, Jose Bautista’s 1,000th career game with the Toronto Blue Jays sure was eventful before its unhappy ending. The all-star right-fielder’s leadoff double in the ninth triggered a three-run rally that sent a game that looked all but over into extra innings. Drew Stubbs then ripped a solo shot over the wall in left field with two out in the 10th for a 6-5 Texas Rangers win Saturday night to suck all the joy from that comeback. Bautista added a double in the top of the 10th, too, but was stranded there when Edwin Encarnacion grounded out, the late drama going for naught.
It finished as a turn-the-page kind of night.
Still, Bautista became only the 11th player in franchise history to reach the meaningful games-played plateau, his time spanning the end of the unconsummated J.P. Ricciardi years through Alex Anthopoulos’s slow build to last year’s American League East title to the beginning of the Mark Shapiro/Ross Atkins reign. His looming free agency represents a signature moment for the new regime.
During his period in Toronto, Bautista’s assured himself an eventual place on the club’s Level of Excellence with 249 home runs, 654 RBIs and 662 walks, plus, of course, his epic shot in Game 5 of last year’s American League Division Series and accompanying bat flip that seared straight into franchise lore.
Not bad for the Pittsburgh Pirates discard in need of a fresh start that Anthopoulos, then assistant GM, found on revocable waivers and urged Ricciardi to acquire. The Blue Jays made a claim, worked out a deal to send over farmhand catcher Robinzon Diaz, and watched their target blossom into an icon.
"The first thing was a lot of excitement, a lot of happiness," Bautista said of his reaction when Pirates GM Neal Huntington informed him of the trade. "My last season in Pittsburgh wasn’t the best, I felt like the coaching staff and the new management didn’t really think highly of me at all, and not only that, I don’t think they necessarily wanted me around. We talked it out, they promised that if they had a chance they were going to find me a new home, and they did. For those reasons, and how that all developed was why I was so excited to find out I was going to get an opportunity with another organization. It didn’t matter where I was going, just that I was going somewhere else was great news at the time."
Anthopoulos and Cito Gaston, the manager at the time, were both intrigued by Bautista’s raw power, but it took lots of work with then first base coach and hitting guru Dwayne Murphy and hitting coach Gene Tenace to fix the flaws in his swing. The Pirates had pressed Bautista to hit the ball to right field, but his strength was to the pull side, something Gaston and Murphy urged him to exploit, provided he had a plan at the plate.
"I knew they were great hitting coaches but I knew nothing about how they did their work," said Bautista. "I was eager and open to listening to their suggestions and see how their advice was going to apply to me and help me change and adapt and become a better player overall. I’m glad I came with that attitude because it’s definitely a pivotal time in my career."
A key change Murphy helped Bautista make was with the timing of his trademark leg kick. An inability to get his front foot down quickly enough often led him to be late on his swings, impacting his ability to identify pitches consistently, as well. Relentlessly, they worked on ways for him to get started sooner, things started to click in September 2009, when he hit 10 homers, and he followed that up with a career best 54 home runs in 2010. He’s been an all-star every season since.
"Over time, I knew I was just better hitting to the left side of the field," said Bautista. "It always felt that I was forcing it when I tried to go the other way. Applying a good hitting philosophy and approach at the plate to allow me to pull the ball the correct way was what I think they helped me the most with, and is what helped me get over that hump of .250 with 15 homers and 60 RBIs to what I do today."
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In the fourth inning Friday, Bautista ripped a ball to third base that popped in and out of Adrian Beltre’s glove, deflecting right to Elvis Andrus who relayed for the out at first. Thinking the ball was going to be caught, Bautista was slow out of the box.
In the ninth, he opened the inning with a double off the wall in centre field, scored when Justin Smoak hammered a two-run shot to right field and watched as Troy Tulowitzki parked the next pitch from Shawn Tolleson over the wall in left to tie things up.
His double in the 10th gave Bautista a 2-for-5 night, pushing him up to 10-for-64 with 11 walks over the past three weeks. Perhaps he’s coming out of his lengthy funk.
"With Jose it’s just a matter of time," said manager John Gibbons. "He’s a villain around here and I’ve said it before, that motivates him. Lights a fire under him and that’s not always a good thing. Good thing for us but … it’s just a matter of time. He’s too good of a hitter."
Gavin Floyd, in his second inning of work, seemed poised to extend the game to the 11th until Stubbs got a hold of a 1-2 cutter.
Ballgame.
The Blue Jays managed just two runs off Colby Lewis, on a Ryan Goins solo shot in the third and an Ezequiel Carrera RBI single in the fifth. A rally in that inning was cut short when Andrus threw Carrera out at home trying to score on a Russell Martin grounder.
Marco Estrada struggled through a 26-pitch stretch in the second, as the first three batters reached on a pair of walks and a single before Bobby Wilson capped an 11-pitch at-bat with his second grand slam of the season. Estrada recovered to retire 15 of his next 18 batters, but the damage had been done.
"Nothing, really, I kept making pitches," he said when asked what changed. "I didn’t really get too many called my way. I was a pitch or two away from a completely different game. But that stuff doesn’t matter. I made a terrible pitch to Wilson. I tried going cutter down and away and I basically ended up throwing a BP fastball right down the middle and he crushed it. So I got to get better with that pitch, especially to righties down and away."
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The Rangers scratched out an unearned run in the sixth when Ryan Rua’s liner dropped between Michael Saunders and Carrera, each looking like he expected the other to catch the ball, for a triple, and a passed ball brought him home.
Barring injury, Bautista will soon catch Jesse Barfield (1,032) and Joe Carter (1,039) on the club’s all-time games played list, while Willie Upshaw and Rance Mulliniks (both at 1,115) can also be surpassed this season. He’ll need another contract with the Blue Jays to chase down those beyond them.
Notes: Left-hander Brett Cecil threw two-thirds of an inning Saturday but "came up a little bit tender," said John Gibbons. "We’ve got to look at that, possibly what we’re going to do there." The Blue Jays didn’t make an immediate roster move. … Kevin Pillar was a late scratch with soreness in his chest rooted in the diving catch he made last week in Toronto against the Dodgers. He came into the game in the ninth inning, and the issue isn’t considered major.