TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays came home after a disappointing series loss in Boston and did exactly what they needed to do against the Chicago Cubs, taking apart the N.L. Central cellar dwellers in a sometimes-embarrassing three-game sweep in which they outscored the lovable losers by a combined score of 28-3.
The young Cubbies, built for success a couple of years down the road, fell apart late in each of the three games, had no answer for Marcus Stroman and Drew Hutchison in the series opener and finale, and were simply carved up by Mark Buehrle in between.
The Blue Jays used the sweep to clear out some of the traffic in front of them as they attempt an improbable climb towards a playoff spot, moving past the Indians and Yankees, and now have only one team between them and the leaders for the second wild card in the American League. Toronto’s destiny isn’t completely in its own hands, but they do have four games remaining against the Seattle Mariners, who will be in town to open the season’s final homestand on Sept. 22.
It’s been a roller coaster of a season for the Jays, with some high highs and some low lows. They’re certainly on a high right now, having won nine of their last 11, but they’ll have to keep it going in order to make those late-September games against Seattle really matter. The Tampa Bay Rays are next, and then it’s a weeklong road trip through Baltimore and New York before the Mariners come to town.
The series finale against the Cubs wound up being a laugher, but the Blue Jays scored the first two runs of the ballgame by using their legs. It was something we saw quite a bit in those halcyon days of May and early June, and this time Kevin Pillar and Anthony Gose were at the forefront.
Pillar led off the third inning with a hard-hit double over the head of Cubs’ left fielder Chris Coghlan, his ninth hit in 17 at-bats, and showed off his great wheels to score the Jays’ first run. The next hitter was Ryan Goins, and he hit a ground ball to first. Pillar took a couple of hard steps towards third, but stopped when Cubs’ first baseman Mike Olt stared him down. Runner frozen, Olt turned to step on the base and retire Goins, and when he did that, Pillar picked his pocket and went to third.
Next up was Gose, who hit a hard line drive to Coghlan in left. Pillar’s first step was towards home plate, but seeing the liner hang in the air, he raced back to third, tagged up a bit late and sprinted home, scoring with a Superman dive just ahead of the throw to give the Blue Jays their first run.
It was still a 1-0 game into the sixth, with Drew Hutchison having thrown six innings of two-hit shutout and tying his career-high with 10 strikeouts, and that was when it was Gose’s turn to show off the afterburners.
Gose led off the bottom of the sixth with a single to right field, and Jose Reyes followed with a little looper to shallow right-centre. Many runners would have held up, unsure whether the ball would drop, but Gose read it perfectly and took off for third. When the ball kicked off the glove of Cubs’ right fielder Jorge Soler, Gose just kept on flying all the way home.
As the game got out of hand, most of the bench emptied, and Mississauga, Ont., native Dalton Pompey came up for his first major-league at-bat in the eighth, pinch-hitting for Edwin Encarnacion with runners at second and third and one out. He expanded his strike zone to stroke a 1-1 pitch up and away to first base, driving in Gose from third with the groundout. Pompey is the second Canadian Blue Jay ever to notch an RBI in his first big-league at-bat, joining Brett Lawrie.
Brandon Morrow finished things off, striking out the side in the ninth after giving up a leadoff double. Morrow has yet to be scored upon in three relief outings since his return from the disabled list, and without having to pace himself to throw seven innings or more, the righty has flashed some serious heat; 16 of the 18 pitches Morrow threw Wednesday night were fastballs, and 15 of them were 98 mph or faster. He threw six pitches that registered at 99 mph, one at 100 and one more at 101.
Morrow is certainly leaving the Blue Jays with something to think about as they head into the off-season holding a $10-million option on his services.