BOSTON – Catharsis for the Toronto Blue Jays came in the form of an 11-run offensive outburst, the re-awakening of Edwin Encarnacion, a crucial piece of relief work from Marco Estrada, and ultimately a victory over the Boston Red Sox that ended a four-game losing streak.
This was an exhale the team dearly needed.
Still, Tuesday night’s 11-8 win was more something to be endured than celebrated, a grotesque four-hour one-minute battle of attrition in which Drew Hutchison couldn’t make it through five innings despite nine-runs of support, and didn’t strike out a single batter for just the second time in his 48 career big-league starts.
To score so often and never feel like the game was in hand, no matter how potent the opponent, is pretty unsettling. The Blue Jays can’t expect to consistently bludgeon opponents the way they did Clay Buchholz and five Red Sox relievers in this one, although they gladly took it.
"Kind of one of those classic Fenway games, fell behind four and then bounced right back," said manager John Gibbons. "Even through the struggles this past week the guys have been busting it hard. Things haven’t gone our way, we coughed up a couple of games but they’re busing it and I’m proud of that. The fact that we answered back after they scored four tells you what these guys are about."
Making sure that didn’t go to waste is why the work of Estrada – who took over from Hutchison with the bases loaded, nobody out and a 9-5 lead in the fifth – was especially crucial.
At a point where the inning, and perhaps even the game, could have unravelled, the right-hander settled things down, coolly striking out Xander Bogaerts, inducing a weak fly ball from Ryan Hanigan and after a walk to Mookie Betts, getting a grounder to short from Dustin Pedroia to escape trouble.
After the bullpenning adventures Saturday against the Rays and Monday at Fenway Park, it was as money a performance as the Blue Jays could have asked for.
"We won, that’s all that matters," said Estrada, who allowed just two walks in three shutout innings in picking up his first win since June 25, 2014.
Bigger picture, Estrada’s continuing effectiveness raises some interesting questions for the Blue Jays, who reshuffled their bullpen roles again in the wake of Monday’s mess, and are still looking for more stability. Aaron Sanchez would do wonders to steady things, and the internal debate over where he most helps remains ongoing, but Estrada is certainly making a case for consideration as a starter.
At the same time, Estrada, and perhaps Liam Hendriks, could also be used as set-up righties, giving Gibbons another option with Loup and Roberto Osuna in bridging the gap to new closer Brett Cecil, who locked things down in the ninth Tuesday for his first save.
"Well, I’d say after tonight, yeah, you would definitely think so," Gibbons said when asked if Estrada was pitching his way to a bigger role. "But he’s been good all year. We really didn’t know what we had because he missed so much of spring training with the ankle problem, but he’s very valuable. He’s got that dominating changeup, they can even be sitting on it sometimes and the Bugs Bunny changeup never gets there."
Distributing high leverage innings more evenly is crucial for the Blue Jays, since before Tuesday’s contest, Osuna, Miguel Castro and Loup had pitched 30.2 of the bullpen’s 64.2 innings in 2015. Factor in that the majority of those were in stressful, high leverage situations, some of the struggles are understandable.
More dependable relievers are needed.
"Whatever happens, whatever other opportunities I get, I’m going to take them," said Estrada, who’s allowed one run in 10.2 innings over six games. "I’ll be ready whenever the phone rings, be ready for anything."
The rotation has a role to play in that, too, and Hutchison deserved better in the four-run second he surrendered, as Danny Valencia, in left field to give Dalton Pompey a break, misread a Pablo Sandoval ball that turned into a double. Still Hutchison did himself no favours by issuing Ryan Hanigan a two-out walk, one of his five on the night, before three bleeders for RBI singles put the Red Sox up 4-0.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, Buchholz was awful, surrendering five runs in a top of the third he didn’t survive, highlighted by Encarnacion’s RBI single, that ended an 0-for-12 rut, and Michael Saunders first hit with his new team, an RBI single that snapped an 0-for-7.
They tacked on three more in the fourth, helped along by a pair of Edward Mujica balks and a Jose Bautista RBI single, Ryan Goins, in for the injured Jose Reyes, ripped an RBI triple in the fifth, while solo shots from Bautista in the eighth and Donaldson in the ninth added needed insurance, especially after Hanley Ramirez’s two-run bender around the foul pole in right off Loup in the eighth.
Bautista, still working his way back from a sore shoulder, finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs while Encarnacion matched his season highs with two hits and two RBIs.
"I’ve been swinging at bad pitches out of the strike zone and I just had to make my adjustments, swing at the pitch I like, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do," he said.
"Feel great," he added later, "especially with the win."
Regardless of how it came about, so too did the rest of the Blue Jays, who at last got the happy ending they were seeking, even if issues remain if they want to keep them coming.