TORONTO – Amid the Canada Day pomp and circumstance – 250 military personnel on field unfurling what’s believed to be the largest Canadian flag in the world, special uniforms, Don Cherry throwing out the ceremonial first pitch – the Toronto Blue Jays reset a couple of trends going the wrong way.
Jose Bautista ended an 0-for-25 slide with a two-run home run, Justin Smoak went deep from each side of the plate while starting for the first time in over a week and Mark Buehrle delivered a lockdown start to help his team end a two-game losing skid in an 11-2 thrashing of the Boston Red Sox.
Oh, and a group of fans randomly belted out O Canada in the bottom of the ninth.
Quite the holiday party.
"It was awesome," said Buehrle. "I went down to the bullpen, threw probably 10 pitches and I looked back at Pete (Walker, the pitching coach) and told him I was ready. There was definitely a lot more adrenaline going, atmosphere, they get everybody into it and it’s hard, especially for me, I try to tell myself not to get worked up because I try to overthrow and throw harder than what I should, but it’s hard not to.
"You see them there, cheering for you, and it’s kind of hard not to pay attention to it."
The Blue Jays gave them plenty to cheer about all afternoon long.
Edwin Encarnacion got the sell-out crowd of 45,392 rocking in the bottom of the first with a three-run homer that opened the scoring, and Josh Donaldson capped the outburst with a two-run job in the eighth (the first of his career on an 0-2 count) in a wire-to-wire no-doubter.
The Blue Jays reached double digits in runs for the 14th time this year, their most since 2009, when they had 14 all year.
"It’s the best offence in the game," said Smoak. "I feel like in 2010 when I was with Texas, that offence was really good. This one is better than that one. Just pass the torch onto the next guy and go from there."
Having scored just seven runs over the past four games, the Blue Jays unloaded on Rick Porcello to match that total in the first two innings.
Porcello made it through just 44 pitches before getting yanked after giving up home runs to Encarnacion and Smoak that made it 5-0 in the first inning, and then a two-run drive to Bautista in the second.
"You go back to the game (Yovani) Gallardo pitched, against Texas, we’ve been hitting the ball pretty well, we just haven’t been finding a lot of holes. That’s part of baseball," said Donaldson. "With our lineup, obviously we feel like it’s a matter of time, whether it’s the next day, whether it’s next inning, we feel like we’re very capable and you’ve seen it throughout the season so far, we can put up a lot of runs in a hurry."
The big early lead made it smooth sailing for Buehrle, who was his usual strong self over seven innings of one-run ball. He gave up just four hits, never more than one in the same inning, walked none and struck out a season-high seven in improving to 9-4.
"I’m feeling good," said Buehrle. "Can’t tell you why I’m feeling good, but it’s that time of year where I’m having some good outings and making good pitches, and when I’m not making good pitches, I’m getting away with them. I had plenty of times I’d throw a cutter that was left over the middle of the plate and they’d take it for the first pitch. That’s why I say there’s a lot of luck involved."
Lucky or not, the victory was also important for the Blue Jays (42-38) in stemming the momentum the Red Sox (36-44) had been building with eight wins in the previous 12 games. Rookie Matt Boyd faces fellow lefty Wade Miley in the series finale Thursday.
Miley’s allowed nine earned runs over 7.2 innings in two starts so far against the Blue Jays, and Bautista’s reawakening won’t be good news for him.
Though he routinely made solid contact during his drought, the home run may be a sign of the slugger locking back in.
"More important than anything is just contributing and helping the team, not necessarily getting a hit or hitting a home run," said Bautista. "We’re all here to win, I think everybody here is pretty determined in wanting to make it to the playoffs, and it’s no different than any other year, it’s just that we’re getting better results this season and it seems more attainable to all of us.
"Maybe that’s why everybody is that more excited about the possibility."
The depth of the lineup is a primary reason for that.
Take Smoak, who hadn’t started since June 21, had just two plate appearances since, and proceeded to deliver a couple of mighty wallops, his second home run right-handed landing a fourth-deck luxury suite above left field.
"It’s definitely new to me and it’s not easy," Smoak said of the sporadic playing time. "It’s a lot of work behind the scenes and getting ready during the game to be ready for any situation, and it’s something I’m trying to adjust to.
"I try not to take too many (swings). You can get caught up in the cage, especially here at home, where you can take swing after swing after swing during the game. When you find something you like and the feel that you like, you’ve got to shut it down and be ready to go."
Asked if Smoak merited more playing time, manager John Gibbons replied: "After today I’d think you’d have to, wouldn’t you?"
That’s a nice problem to have, and after a big Canada Day show, the Blue Jays will be happy to take it.
Even Don Cherry, who was nervous about throwing out the ceremonial pitch to Donaldson, had a good day on the field, slinging the ball past, even if it was wide, the plate.
"I said, ‘Hey, just get it in the area, I’ll take care of you,’ for him not to be nervous," said Donaldson, who received a big boost in all-star voting from a Cherry plug on Coach’s Corner. "I just wanted to let him know that I really appreciated everything he’s done. He didn’t have to do that, he went out on a limb and voiced his opinion and hopefully my play had backed it up for him."