BOSTON – As John Gibbons likes to say, things got a little bit hairy for Drew Storen during his first ninth inning with the Toronto Blue Jays, surrendering a pair of runs and facing David Ortiz as the potential go-ahead run before locking down his first save of the season.
A crowd of 37,168 roared at Fenway Park when Big Papi stepped into the on-deck circle for Chris Young after Travis Shaw doubled in one run and Hanley Ramirez’s groundball single up the middle cashed him in to cut into a 4-3 lead, and chanted "Papi, Papi" throughout the subsequent at-bat.
With the count 2-2, Storen caught Ortiz looking on a two-seamer that "started in and ran over the plate," to secure Monday’s 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox.
"That’s the thing I like about being a bullpen guy, that’s what it’s all about, honestly," Storen said of the rowdy environment at Fenway. "That’s when you can really lock in, when everything is so loud, I prefer that over a quiet stadium. That’s a lot of the fun of pitching on the road, especially in that kind of situation. He’s got one thing in mind right there, and I have one thing in mind – not letting him get that pitch. It worked out, those are the fun ones you remember."
Still, Storen has yet to fully find his rhythm with the Blue Jays, having surrendered runs in three of his six outings so far. Part of that is adjusting to a new situation in a league full of hitters he’s unfamiliar with while he and catcher Russell Martin learn one another.
With Roberto Osuna unavailable Monday after a blister by the fingernail on his right middle finger tore open, Storen began getting ready for his outing once the Blue Jays took a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. "I was mentally preparing, here’s how I needed to attack these guys, because these are still new hitters to me. I’ve got to look a little more into it now than I have in years past," he said.
In that vein, he’s leaning on Martin a bit more than he did on his catchers with the Nationals, describing the process as "a good mix."
"At the same time he’s learning me, too, and what I like to do," Storen continued. "When it comes down to it, I’m going to trust the pitch he’s calling and go with it."
That’s what happened during the Ortiz at-bat, although "we disagreed a bit on the last pitch, it took us a second to get to it, but it ended up working out all right."
"It’s about hitting your stride and getting into that rhythm, that groove," he continued. "Every time I go out there I make improvements, they put some good swings on some good pitches today, they had me backed into a corner there, but we battled through it to get the job done."
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TURNING TWO: Troy Tulowitzki pulled off one of the more creative unassisted double plays you’ll see during the third inning of Monday’s 4-3 win, when the Red Sox hit and run with one out, Jackie Bradley Jr., on first and Dustin Pedroia at the plate.
Pedroia hit a weak grounder up the middle and Tulowitzki fielded it by reaching to his left as he was running to second to cover the bag. With Bradley bearing down on him, Tulowitzki reached across his body to tag the base for a force before relaying the ball to first for the second out.
"I think that’s probably the first time I’ve done that," Tulowitzki said of tagging second. "It was definitely just instinct, my best way to get to the bag because my feet weren’t quite there. It ended up working out."
Baseball’s new slide rules also ensured Bradley couldn’t interfere.
"That’s one of the times where it helps you," said Tulowitzki.
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WORKING WITH HAPP: The chemistry between J.A. Happ and Russell Martin has developed rapidly in the past few weeks and with the left-hander’s breaking ball not quite as sharp as it can be, that’s been important.
Take for example, the gameplan Martin employed against the Red Sox with Happ: "Mainly being aggressive attacking the zone with the fastball, mixing the four-seamer in with the two-seamer, using the cutter off that, mixing in some changeups and then the breaking ball we used later in counts. It’s not necessarily something he typically likes to do, but the first breaking ball is always the toughest one to hit when you’re a hitter, so keeping that breaking ball for later in counts when he needed to make a pitch was big for us."
Happ allowed one run on four hits and a walk over seven innings Monday.