CLEVELAND – Throw out the 17-1 smack-down the Toronto Blue Jays dropped on the Cleveland Indians on July 3 at Rogers Centre and only two runs separate the remaining six games between the two division leaders. So yeah, the possibility of a playoff series between the two clubs, which would happen if the current standings hold, is an intriguing one.
Certainly the entire weekend, capped by the Indians’ comeback 3-2 win Sunday, had an October-like tension to it with 27 innings of near-constant leverage, and rocking crowds thanks to the thousands of Canucks who crossed the border. There isn’t a whole lot separating the two rivals.
"They’re one of the best teams in the big-leagues and they’re a team that I’m sure we’re going to be battling with down the stretch and that hopefully we see at some point during the playoffs," said Marcus Stroman, who allowed one run over 7.1 outstanding innings. "It definitely had that playoff feel throughout the weekend. Felt like a home game for us a lot of the time, as well, shout out to Canada and everyone for coming down and showing support, it was pretty special."
Still, this will be a weekend of regrets for the Blue Jays, who blew a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning Friday and in the eighth Sunday, when Francisco Lindor singled to centre off Ryan Goins’ glove with two out and Jose Ramirez smacked the next Brett Cecil offering over the wall in right.
Opportunities to add on in support of Stroman – who allowed seven hits and a walk with nine strikeouts – were wasted in the sixth, seventh and eighth as the Blue Jays went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, an ongoing issue.
With Joaquin Benoit and Jason Grilli both unavailable after back-to-back appearances, that was trouble.
"It just magnifies that we need to score to win," said manager John Gibbons. "We have a tough time in those low-scoring games."
Particularly irksome for the Blue Jays will be the seventh, when they loaded the bases with two out against Corey Kluber, and Mike Clevinger came on to face Edwin Encarnacion.
Clevinger’s rocking from the set position sure looked like a balk and third-base umpire Greg Gibson called one before a 1-2 offering. A lengthy conversation ensued and the crew decided home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus called time, which negated the balk, sending all the runners back to their bases. Clevinger seemingly got a talking to from the umps about what is and isn’t a balk, and once play was set to resume, Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway came out for yet another conference on the mound.
Eventually, Clevinger resumed pitching with less movement in his motion, and got a generous third strike call on a heater low and away that ended the threat.
"I never asked for time," Encarnacion said through interpreter Josue Peley. "Every time I go to the box I always put my foot down and I always put my hand (up) like that. So I don’t know (why he called time). … To be honest, I don’t know (if there was a balk). I was just putting my foot down and the pitcher was making a lot of movement before he was pitching, so I was just trying to get in the box."
Clevinger’s rocking was disruptive, Encarnacion said, "because with all those movements you don’t know when the guy’s going to actually start his windup and throw the ball."
On the previous pitch Encarnacion and Indians catcher Roberto Perez actually exchanged words about it, the all-star slugger "telling the catcher that the pitcher was making too much movement before he was getting into his windup to throw the ball."
The subsequent delay "bothered me a little bit, but I didn’t swing because I didn’t think that the pitch was a strike. It wasn’t my pitch so I didn’t swing."
Asked if Clevinger’s motion constitutes a balk, Gibbons replied: "I don’t think anybody knows. He’s been doing that getting here and up here now." He didn’t see an Encarnacion timeout, either, but quickly added, "I ain’t going to nitpick at that kind of crap."
The question Gibbons had was this one: "If what nullified the balk was a timeout, then where was the balk (on the pitch) before that? What are you going to do? Plenty of opportunities."
The Blue Jays did all their damage in the third when Melvin Upton Jr., opened the inning with his third home run since coming over from San Diego, and Josh Donaldson, back in the lineup after missing two games with a jammed thumb, cashed in a Devon Travis double by cleverly poking a single to right.
The Indians scratched out a run in the sixth on consecutive singles from Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis and Lindor but Stroman recovered to limit the damage to one. He was helped by three double plays in extending a strong run of recent starts in which he’s allowed 11 earned runs over 40.1 innings.
"I think it’s the adjustments I made about a month and a half back," said Stroman, who streamlined his delivery at the end of June. "I’m really starting to get comfortable with them and the more I get more comfortable, the more my stuff plays and the better sequences I can throw. Me and Russ (Martin) have gotten in a pretty good groove of mixing my pitches, not relying on that sinker, and it’s been helpful and successful."
Cody Allen issued two-out walks to Donaldson and Encarnacion in the ninth before Russell Martin lined out softly to right field for the final out.
The promise of help at the plate looms in the next week with Kevin Pillar (2-for-2 in six innings on rehab at single-A Dunedin) due back Tuesday and Jose Bautista eligible to return Thursday, and that will help. In the interim, the Blue Jays will have to sit on a 3-4 record against the Indians unless they meet again in October.