TORONTO – Marcus Stroman charged the field like a predator on the prowl, picked the ball up with intent, made his traditional throw from behind the mound, stepped to the rubber, dug into the dirt as if it had wronged him, and then began to warm up.
Rather than calming him down, the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander’s first start of the season last week at Yankee Stadium only seemed to hype him up even more for Friday’s home debut against the Boston Red Sox. Once again, he responded brilliantly, throwing seven innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 victory, and if he continues to pitch like this, the conversation will soon shift from how quickly he can regain past form to how he’s positioned to transform the club’s post-season rotation.
It seems almost absurd to be talking in this fashion about a pitcher who’s made just four starts this season, two of them rehab outings in the minor-leagues, but Stroman has not only passed his first tests in the big-leagues, he’s aced them.
“I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point and a lot of people have doubted me,” said Stroman. “I’ve kept my head down and I know have a lot to prove but I feel great. I’m just looking forward to going out there every fifth day no matter who the opponent is, just going out there and dominating.”
Behind the 24-year-old’s efforts, the Blue Jays (85-62) extended their lead atop the AL East to 4.5 games over the New York Yankees (80-66), who dropped a 5-1 decision to the New York Mets.
Stroman impressed in a 10-7 win over the Yankees his first time out, allowing three runs over five innings in a performance that was better than his pitching line, and he trumped that against the Red Sox. He allowed six hits and a walk with three strikeouts on a 96-pitch night he controlled from start to finish, and never once did things seem like they might unravel on him before a sellout crowd of 47,126.
“His pitches were probably a little bit sharper (than in his first start), maybe a little better breaking ball,” said manager John Gibbons. “The conditions were better and I think, too, the more times he goes out there he’s going to really round into form like we’ve seen him in the past.
“But what an outing for a guy that had no spring training, coming off the big injury, it’s really pretty remarkable. Stro’s different. To be honest, I don’t think there are many guys who can pull that off. Most guys would have been done for the year, he was motivated to come back.”
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Stroman’s first pitch of the game was a 94 mph fastball he overthrew low to Mookie Betts but he regrouped to eventually catch the impressive right-fielder looking, and he rolled from there with obscene movement on his pitches.
David Ortiz found that out the hard way – fouling a 93 mph cutter off his foot that left him doubled over in pain for a couple of minutes. He nearly did the same thing with a curveball on the next pitch before weakly popping up on a fastball.
“That’s exactly what I wanted it do,” Stroman said of the movement on his pitches. “Just got to stay there, stay on top of it, in my bullpens just keep preaching down, down, down and I’ll be excited to be out there against the Yankees on Wednesday.”
The Red Sox, 8-4 in their last 12 games coming in, dinked and dunked their way to a run in the fifth on Josh Rutledge’s infield RBI single initially ruled a groundout and overturned by replay, but did nothing the rest of the inning, or for that matter, the rest of the game.
“He pitches with an attitude I think is awesome,” said second baseman Cliff Pennington. “Confidence with a little swagger. He believes he’s going to get the job done and he’s doing it.”
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, did their thing against Rick Porcello, scratching out a run in the third on a Kevin Pillar double, Cliff Pennington sacrifice bunt and Ben Revere groundout, then tacking on three more in the fourth on Justin Smoak’s two-run double and a Ryan Goins RBI triple.
They put things away in the sixth when Russell Martin scored on a wild pitch and Goins came in on a Pennington sacrifice fly.
The run support was more than enough for Stroman, who has not only responded well to big-league competition, but two high-powered offences, too. To be dropped into the Blue Jays rotation in September and perform in such fashion is like a gift from the heavens.
“That’s a huge boost,” said Pennington. “You talk about making a trade and getting David Price to add to our rotation, that’s essentially what happened again almost. You get a guy who from what I’ve seen is a top-of-the-rotation type pitcher and you get to add him in … that’s a huge shot in the arm for a team. And they’re pitching like they’re supposed to.”
Before the game pitching coach Pete Walker said the thing he’d be on the lookout for is for Stroman’s fastball command to “get a little better” and added that against the Yankees, “I thought the movement he had on his pitches was outstanding.”
“To get 10 groundball outs was better than to be expected, to be honest with you,” Walker continued. “I saw great action on the sinker, I thought he spun the ball well – now continue to refine the secondary stuff. There were a lot of good things he did in that game.”
There were even more of them that he did in this one as he continues to go from tantalizing possibility to prosperous reality.