TORONTO — If you stumbled into the Rogers Centre batting cages around 1:00 a.m. Monday night you would have found Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki “working on some things.”
Those are Donaldson’s words, not ours. See, the third baseman didn’t love the contact he’d been making in his three games since returning from the disabled list this past weekend. So, after going 1-for-4 with a walk during Monday’s lopsided win over the Reds, he pulled up video of each of his plate appearances and found some minor mechanical issues he wanted to smooth out—some subtle actions in his swing that weren’t letting him achieve the tempo he desired.
He took swing after swing after swing with Tulowitzki late into the night, polishing out those imperfections. And then, about 24 hours later, he went out and put a ball into the fifth deck.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of work—a lot of time,” Donaldson said after his Toronto Blue Jays beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4, Tuesday night. “And today it paid off, it showed up a little bit.”
Showing up a little bit is one way of describing a rollicking fourth inning in which the Blue Jays hit three tape-measure home runs, including Donaldson’s missile into the 500 level. It was only the 11th time a Blue Jay has hit one there and the first since Edwin Encarnacion lofted one up into that stratosphere in 2015.
The Blue Jays hit four monstrous home runs in all Tuesday night, combining for 1,711 feet or more than half a kilometre, including Kendrys Morales’ go-ahead shot in the eighth that broke open a tied ballgame.
“Yeah, that’s kind of who we are,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “A lot of times early on in the season those balls were just falling at the track, you know? But our team’s built that way—especially in this ballpark and this division. To slug it out. So, you’re starting to get that good feeling again. That when you fall behind, you can strike back quick.”
And the Blue Jays probably should have had more. Reds starter Asher Wojciechowski gave Toronto hitters plenty to work with over his first three innings, living dangerously with a wealth of 93-mph fastballs up in the zone. But the Blue Jays had little to show for it their first time through the order, as Wojciechowski faced the minimum through three.
Of course, the second time through the order was a different story. After Wojciechowski drilled Kevin Pillar in the back to begin his fourth inning, Donaldson got one of those elevated fastballs and put it in the fifth deck, absolutely crushing a two-run shot that left his bat at 109 mph and travelled 435 feet.
Four pitches later, Jose Bautista got a similar offering and did a similar thing to it, this time the particulars being second deck, 108 mph, and 431 feet, as the Blue Jays went back-to-back for the third time this season.
And it continued from there, as Morales missed a home run by about five feet with a fly ball to deep right-centre before Russell Martin sent a solo shot 411 feet into the left-field bullpen to put the Blue Jays up by two.
When the Reds bullpen took over in the fifth, the Blue Jays’ bats went temporarily cold, as Toronto struggled to string together hits like they did in that roaring fourth. But then Bautista led off the eighth with a single off Reds reliever Blake Wood before Morales got a fastball he hammered 434 feet into the right field seats to give the Blue Jays all they would need.
“I was looking for a big swing,” Morales said. “And I got a good pitch to swing at. I got it all.”
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Almost forgotten amidst the fireworks was that Tuesday marked J.A. Happ’s return to the Blue Jays rotation. Making his first big-league start since April 16 when he left a game with inflammation in his left elbow, Happ was working with a rough 75-pitch goal as he continues building up arm strength. Barring disaster, how deep Happ went in this game was entirely dependent on his efficiency.
And, well, he’s had better starts. After getting Billy Hamilton to fly out to open the game, Happ left a 94-mph fastball over the plate to Zack Cozart, who didn’t miss it, driving the ball over the centre-field wall for a solo shot. With his next pitch, Happ went right back to the same fastball, same location to Joey Votto, who didn’t miss it either, drilling a solo shot of his own to deep centre as the Reds built an early 2-0 lead.
“The Votto pitch, he kind of just got that one. He was swinging early, didn’t necessarily expect that. I don’t even really think it was that bad of a pitch. It was kind of on the plate but down,” Happ said. “And the Cozart one, we were trying to go up and in and I just kind of left it down and on the plate. And he’s strong and put a good swing on it.”
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Happ followed his rough 22-pitch first inning with a much-better 11-pitch second, but lost his command in the third, walking a pair and loading the bases with two out, which brought his pitching coach Pete Walker out of the dugout for a chat.
Happ’s 34th pitch of the inning induced a groundball to short from Scott Schebler that Tulowitzki made a brilliant play on, ending the threat. Happ then rallied well to throw a tidy, 14-pitch fourth, which included two of his three strikeouts on the night, but didn’t come back out for the fifth with his pitch count at 81.
Certainly not Happ’s finest night on the mound, but the left-hander said he pitched without limitation and that he felt good physically, which is what’s most important to take away from the outing. Happ threw all of his pitches on the night, with his fastball averaging 93 mph and touching 95.
“It was a battle. And I expected that my first time getting back out there,” Happ said. “I didn’t feel held back in any way. I just need to keep refining my delivery a little bit. Just get back to a comfortable delivery and be a little more efficient.
“I felt like I could maneuver the ball—turn it and cut it and spin it—without any issue. So, that part was really good. The next couple days will be telling, but I don’t anticipate any issues.”
Danny Barnes inherited a two-run lead from Happ and struck out the side in the fifth—doing so around Cozart’s second homer of the game, which put the Reds within one—before striking out two more in a clean sixth.
Ryan Tepera was given the ball in the seventh and promptly coughed up his first run in 19 innings—and the Blue Jays lead along with it—when Jose Peraza reached on a single, stole second, advanced to third as Martin’s throw skipped into centre field, and scored on a Hamilton single. Martin caught Hamilton trying to steal third moments later—he’d already swiped second—but a pair of walks by Tepera put two on with one out for Adam Duvall.
The Reds designated hitter smoked a cutter into the left-centre field gap, but Ezequiel Carrera laid out for a run-saving catch before Tepera struck out Suarez to keep the game tied.
There was a scare in the eighth, as Aaron Loup surrendered a loud Schebler double to lead off the inning. But Joe Smith came on behind him and, despite a Peraza single, got the three outs he needed to keep Schebler from crossing home with the go-ahead run.
Of course, it probably wouldn’t have mattered, as Morales was waiting bat-in-hand with bad intentions in the eighth, ready to push the Blue Jays home run mileage past the half-kilometre mark for the night.
And, not to be overlooked, Roberto Osuna came on for the ninth, notching his 10th save of the season against the heart of the Reds order. The Blue Jays are now within two games of .500 for the first time since the fourth game of the season and can push their record in May to 18-10 with a win Wednesday afternoon in their series finale with the Reds.
“Every game that we have is an opportunity to go out there and get back in this thing,” Donaldson said. “We’ve been playing pretty darn good baseball as of late.”
