CLEVELAND – An achievement years in the making offered Marco Estrada little immediate fulfillment.
Estrada had started 132 big league games before Friday’s ALCS opener, but in each one of those games he eventually handed the ball over to the bullpen. At times he left needing just one or two more outs, and those near misses motivated him.
Then, nine seasons into his MLB career, Estrada threw his first complete game, limiting Cleveland’s potent lineup to just two runs. But a start that would normally lead to a win ended in disappointment, after Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen shut down the Blue Jays’ lineup.
The complete game, a first for the Blue Jays this season, barely seemed to register for Estrada.
“Who cares about that?” Estrada said. “We lost. That’s all that matters.”
Instead, Estrada agonized over the 0-2 change-up that Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor hit over the centre field wall in the bottom of the sixth inning. Estrada believes the change-up was the right pitch, but that he should have located it down and away to Lindor, who was batting left-handed. In fact he was trying to bounce it.
“It’s killing me right now. I don’t know what happened, why I yanked it that way,” Estrada said. “I left it middle-in and he crushed it. I just missed my spot, that’s all.”
Still, many 22-year-old hitters would be off-balance against Estrada’s change-up no matter where it was located. Not Lindor, who posted a .358 on-base percentage with 15 home runs during the regular season.
“Lindor’s got a nice swing path and he just caught it nicely,” catcher Russell Martin said. “I’m sure he’s got good numbers on change-ups, but Marco’s change-up is a bit different than most people’s. So, you’re got to tip your cap.”
Kluber, Miller and Allen deserve plenty of credit, too. They shut down the Blue Jays’ lineup, allowing just seven hits while striking out 12. Miller was especially dominant, striking out five of the six hitters he faced.
“It was a heck of a game, it really was,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “If you’re a fan of pitching, it was a dream game for you.”
Cleveland’s lineup generated just five hits aside from that home run on a night Estrada struck out six and walked one. That alone tells you Estrada’s go-to pitch was working.
“His change-up is so good, you can look for it and still not hit it,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “It might be the best change-up in the game. There’s deception to go with it. Frankie has good, strong hands, and sometimes you get a change-up up a little bit and they’ll tend to go out.”
“(Estrada) did a great job,” Jose Bautista said. “You’re out there against a playoff team that can scrap and have good at bats and get their knocks, steal some bases. He shut everything down except for that one pitch.”
In five playoff starts for the Blue Jays Estrada now has a 2.02 ERA. He joins Jack Morris as the only Blue Jays pitcher to throw a complete game in the postseason. At some point, those accomplishments may gain more meaning for Estrada.
Until then he’s still thinking about the location of that 0-2 change-up.
