TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays offence emerged from its slumber in a big way Thursday night and with their pitchers having a rough go of things, every big swing was needed in their first win of the new season.
J.P. Arencibia hit a pair of home runs, Edwin Encarnacion ripped a three-run blast, Colby Rasmus ended an 0-for-9 start to the season with a solo blast while Jose Bautista also went deep in a nervous 10-8 victory over a Cleveland Indians squad that nearly matched them blow for blow.
Only seven half-innings went without a run in a slugfest reminiscent of Blue Jays team past, when no lead felt safe. That’s how things seemed on this night before a crowd of 19,515, in stark contrast to the first two games of the series, which were both well-pitched and well played.
“Hopefully some people can step off the ledge a little bit, it’s only after three games,” said Mark Buehrle. “We know what we’re capable of. “
The only Blue Jays pitcher to throw a full inning and not surrender a run was Casey Janssen, and given that he was on to close things out, they can be thankful for that.
The right-hander, coming off shoulder surgery, pitched on back-to-back nights for the first time this year, playing catch before the game and determining he felt good enough to go again.
“He was great, he was locked in,” said manager John Gibbons. “Early on we’ll monitor him, if he had said I’m scuffling a little bit, than he wouldn’t have pitched. But he was really good.”
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BAUTISTA OK: How he feels Friday will be the final arbiter, but Jose Bautista is hopeful of playing against the Boston Red Sox after twisting his right ankle stepping on first base in the eighth inning.
Bautista didn’t come out of the game right away, staying on the field until the side was retired before he decided playing defence in the ninth wasn’t the right move. Rajai Davis took his spot.
“I was a little sore so I was kind of testing it,” said Bautista, who finished the night with three RBIs. “When I was walking in, I felt like I was a little more sore than I’d like to be in order to not let it get in my head and play defence. We came in, took a look at it, and it’s good to go. Just a little soreness and that happens, you play a long season you’re going to have aches and pains here and there. It’s nothing serious.”
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WHERE THINGS STAND: The Blue Jays (1-2) avoided dropping three straight out of the gate since a season-opening sweep since at the hands of visiting Detroit in 2004. They next face the Red Sox and former manager John Farrell, and let’s just say his return should be interesting. The Indians (2-1) remain in the American League East, heading to Tampa Bay for a three-game set with the Rays.
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THE ARMS: This wasn’t a very fun night to be a pitcher as zeroes were very hard to come by, and the balls were flying under the closed roof.
“The wind was blowing out, apparently,” quipped Buehrle, whose Blue Jays debut didn’t go well as he failed to hold leads of 3-1 and 6-3, leaving after 5.1 innings having allowed six runs on seven hits — including back-to-back homers by Carlos Santana and Mark Reynolds — and a walk.
“Seven hits, six extra base hits, that’s not me,” said Buehrle. “The biggest thing I’m frustrated about is going out there after we just scored three runs, take a 6-3 lead, go out there and walk (the) leadoff guy, hit a guy, and put yourself in a jam. That’s unacceptable, I need to do a better job.”
His final pitch came on Lonnie Chisenhall’s game-tying two-run double, and Steve Delabar (1-0) had to work around a Michael Bourn infield single to keep the game tied in the sixth. Aaron Loup needed Esmil Rogers to record the final out of the seventh, which the righty did after allowing a Reynolds RBI single, while Darren Oliver gave up a run in the eighth and needed an Emilio Bonifacio gem at second to escape a bases-loaded jam.
“He saved the game,” Blue Jays third base coach Luis Rivera said of Bonifacio.
Indians starter Brett Myers (0-1) surrendered four of the five Blue Jays’ homers, leaving after Arencibia greeted him with a solo shot in sixth. Rasmus unloaded on reliever Cody Allen.
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THE GREAT BONI: Emilio Bonifacio is a catalyst-type player and he certainly showed that in multiple ways in this one.
Defensively, he started a brilliant 4-6-3 double play in the fifth by ranging up the middle to snag a Jason Kipnis chopper, and flipped the ball to shortstop Jose Reyes at second base with his glove to start the twin-kill.
In the eighth, he nearly took away another hit with a glove flip, stopping Michael Brantley’s chopper up the middle but relaying wide to Reyes for a force at second. That play saved the tying run from scoring, and on the next play, he ranged well into centre field to snare Santana’s chopper, then sent a strong throw across his body to first for the out.
“I was playing (Santana) to the pull side, so that’s why I thought I had a chance,” said Bonifacio. “I expected to throw to second base and as soon as I saw Reyes, I know he was playing pull too, so I thought OK, Santana is not that fast.”
As for the glove flips, Bonifacio said he doesn’t really practice them.
“That comes naturally in that situation when you get the ball,” he said. “It’s easy.”
On the bases he was a terror, too, turning a single into a double in the sixth when centrefielder Michael Bourn was slow to field it, and later scoring on a Reynolds error at first base with Melky Cabrera bearing down the line.
“I was telling Reyes the other day, we’ve been playing against Michael the past couple of years, I know he kind of stays back and he doesn’t have that good an arm, so as soon as I hit the ball I was thinking second,” said Bonifacio. “I hadn’t done it before, but I didn’t have the opportunity.”
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THE BATS: The Blue Jays kept waiting for their offence to explode and it did in a big way, but aside from the power show, their speed also stuck out.
While Bonifacio helped steal a run in the sixth, Reyes did the same in the eighth. With runners on first and second and Bautista up, Reyes turned for home as the Indians tried to turn a double play but failed as Bautista beat out the relay to first (the play he turned his ankle on).
En route, Reyes ran right through third base coach Luis Rivera’s stop sign.
“They were running on the play, 3-2 count, and I saw him run back to second base because he thought there was going to an inside (pickoff) move,” explained Rivera. “When they fed the ball to second base, I didn’t think he had a good enough jump to score, but I guess he knows his speed better than me.”
Was Rivera OK with Reyes running through his sign?
“As long as you’re safe, you know what I mean?” he said.
