TORONTO – The American League East won’t be won or lost this weekend at Rogers Centre, no matter what happens between the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles. So much more season remains, two more head-to-head matchups loom and activity by either club before Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline can dynamically change things. Yes, this is a big series, an exciting one, but not a definitive one.
Still, these three days certainly offer an important measuring stick ahead of the August stretch that separates contenders and pretenders, along with a chance to recast the standings, and by extension, the circumstances for the next few weeks. To that end, the Blue Jays got the jump on the Orioles with a steely 6-5 victory that moved them within a half game of the AL East lead.
Marco Estrada fought some early-game rough patches to recover both his velocity and his touch, retiring the final eight batters he faced in six innings of work. Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki erased a 2-0 deficit with solo shots in the bottom of the first, while another three-spot in the third put the game firmly in their control. And the latest addition to the bullpen helped bring things home, as Joaquin Benoit worked around an E1 and a walk in a clean seventh before Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna, handling the ninth for his 22nd save, closed things out before a crowd of 46,112.
The Blue Jays can move into first place with a win Saturday when J.A. Happ takes on Yovani Gallardo.
"Anytime there’s a team you’re chasing, especially in the division, the quickest way to catch them is to beat them," Tulowitzki said beforehand. "On top of that, you want to take care of business at home. Baltimore is a good team, but teams are usually tougher at home, so hopefully the crowd is behind us, hopefully we can get some early leads and hold on to them, and play a good series. Winning the series would be huge."
Tulowitzki, playing on the one-year anniversary of his first game with the Blue Jays, put his team up 4-3 in the third with an RBI groundout that was followed by run-scoring singles from Russell Martin and Kevin Pillar.
J.J. Hardy’s RBI groundout in the fourth and Manny Machado’s solo shot in the eighth off Grilli set up a tense finish, but the Blue Jays held on to improve to 6-5 versus the Orioles this season.
"Typical type of game we normally play," said manager John Gibbons.
The Blue Jays also have six games remaining with the Boston Red Sox and they’ll host the Orioles at home before travelling to Fenway Park in the final week of the season. They’re 7-6 versus Boston so far and their run to the AL East title last year showed how pivotal head-to-head matchups can be.
"Any win against them is huge, we’re all right there," said Estrada. "There are three teams going at it and we need to win this series. It’s good to get that first one out of the way."
The Blue Jays were seven games behind the New York Yankees for first in the AL East when Tulowitzki arrived last season, but they went 9-4 against them over the final two months of the season en route to the division title.
"You can definitely pull from that, that’s why teams talk about experience and how important it is and how important it is getting pieces toward the deadline of experienced players, because it is different baseball," said Tulowitzki. "Every little thing does matter and if you look at this clubhouse, it’s a very veteran clubhouse and you can really use those past experiences to benefit you. What we did last year we can definitely fall back on."
The hunt for more help continues for all three AL East rivals.
The Blue Jays, Orioles and Red Sox are all pushing hard for starting pitching, and the Blue Jays are looking at an array of relievers, as well. Depth in the rotation will only help, with questions about Aaron Sanchez’s role hanging in the air and uncertainty over Estrada and his back lingering.
His velocity was down in the first when he surrendered a two-out, two-run double to Mark Trumbo, but his stuff picked up as he settled after that. Issues rotating his body impacted his bread-and-butter changeup, which was often in the dirt early.
"I was trying to loosen up, obviously that back thing is still there, it’s lingering and I don’t feel 100 per cent yet," said Estrada. "I feel like I can still give the team some innings, some quality innings and early on (in an outing) it’s tough. Once I loosened up later in the game I was able to pitch a little better. I’ve just got to find a way to get my back loose early on."
Estrada made his teammates cringe when he dove for and missed an Adam Jones roller in the second inning and got up slowly after. Darwin Barney brilliantly shovelled the ball with his glove to Justin Smoak at first for the out.
"It’s kind of last resort," Barney said of his latest bit of defensive wizardry. "I’m only going to barehand a ball if I absolutely have to, and I’m only going to shovel it like that if I have to. That’s why you don’t ever see me glove-flip balls to second base on turns, I’m only going to do it if the play dictates it."
Less stellar defence came in the third, when Chris Davis grounded out to Josh Donaldson, playing on the right side on a defensive shift, and no one was at third as Machado made the turn at second. The base was technically Estrada’s to cover, but he was on the first base side after moving for the ball, so Martin charged from home. Smoak threw across the diamond, the ball squirted out of the catcher’s glove, and Machado crossed an unprotected plate ahead of a charging Estrada to make it a 3-3 game.
Estrada emerged from both plays no worse for the wear, but the Blue Jays may have to hold their breath on every such play from him here on out. "It’s getting there," he said. "Hopefully soon I’ll be back to normal and give the guys a little bit better innings, I guess."
Like the Blue Jays, the Orioles and the Red Sox all have question marks, too, and the line that separates them is fairly thin. How they cumulatively fare when facing one another may provide the tipping point.