NEW YORK – A rout? Yes, a rout. A good-ole-fashioned rout, the first this season for the Toronto Blue Jays, who during their hard-to-fathom April scratched and clawed and struggled for every single win, nary a moment of comfort. That the rout came against the New York Yankees, who surged beyond expectations to a 15-8 April that gave them a share of top spot in the American League East, made Monday night’s 7-1 thumping all the more unexpected.
No less surprising was that thump from Ryan Goins and Chris Coghlan largely underpinned an excellent performance from Marco Estrada, who provided both the quantity and quality of innings his team desperately needed.
"He’s got to be the most under-rated pitcher in the game," praised manager John Gibbons. "Shut down a good, hot-hitting team, too."
Suddenly riding a three-game win streak, the Blue Jays now have something to legitimately build upon, regardless of how long and arduous the path back to level from 9-17 remains. As Gibbons noted before the game, "we’ve dug a pretty good hole, now you’ve got to shoot for .500 … It can still be done, it just won’t be easy." Good vibes help, and in a jovial clubhouse afterwards, players sang along to pulsing hip hop beats while Gibbons decided to phone into the "Blue Jays Talk" post-game show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan to, among other things, playfully tease host Mike Wilner for wondering why Luke Maile started at catcher rather than Russell Martin.
"I think it was great on Gibby’s part there to catch Maile, I thought Maile did a great job," Gibbons, disguising his voice, said over the phone from his office. "I heard you before the game, what an expert you are, man. I’m glad you were wrong once again."
Such light-hearted moments for the Blue Jays have been hard to come by, and Monday’s spanking of the young Yankees was by no means easy.
Things were tight into the sixth, when Goins delivered the first two-RBI sacrifice fly in franchise history – Jacoby Ellsbury robbed him at the wall in centre but both Justin Smoak and Devon Travis tagged and scored – while Chris Coghlan added a solo home run to open a 5-1 lead.
"I felt good about the two runs but that’s probably like the 10th time (Ellsbury) has robbed me of a hit, so a little pissed, a little happy," said Goins. "Maybe I’ll get him back one day."
But from that point on, the stress of late high-leverage innings that’s been a near constant this Blue Jays season was noticeably absent. Estrada allowed only two hits over his final three frames during an outing in which he allowed just one run over seven innings, while the offence, gasp, continued to add on runs, Jose Bautista mauling a 95.7 mph four-seamer from Luis Cessa and sending it into the visitors bullpen in left centre in the seventh.
Goins, who’s filled in admirably during Troy Tulowitzki’s absence but had been riding an 0-for-15 slump, opened the scoring with a two-run homer off Luis Severino in the second inning, crushing a 96 mph middle-middle four-seamer over the wall in right field for his second homer of the season.
"It’s nice," Goins said of playing with some breathing room. "You kind of want to keep doing that a little more often."
Estrada’s only real jam came in the fourth when Starlin Castro won a 10-pitch duel with a single on a 90 mph fastball. Ellsbury singled on the next pitch and two pitches after that, an Aaron Judge single cut the Blue Jays lead to 2-1.
The damage was held there, however, as Estrada then induced a double-play ball from Greg Bird that Goins scooped and turned unassisted.
"He puts up good at-bats against me, he’s had a lot of success off me, he finds a way to get on and if he’s not getting on, he’s putting up good at-bats, wasting pitches," Estrada said of Castro, who is 15-for-35 versus the right-hander. "A lot of those guys do. A lot of pitches were wasted today, decent pitches that I was making, and he just kept fouling them off – it’s what they do. Just got to keep making pitches and hopefully they get themselves out."
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The score held until the Blue Jays gave themselves the type of breathing room they’ve far too often lacked, as Smoak singled ahead of a Travis ground-rule double to open the sixth. Goins then crushed a 97.3 mph fastball to centre at 102.9 mph that Ellsbury chased down and corralled as he leaped into the wall. He held on as he tumbled to the ground, but by the time Judge could retrieve the flip, two runs had already plated.
There hadn’t been a two-RBI sac fly in the majors since Wil Myers collected one for Tampa Bay against the visiting Yankees on Sept. 16, 2014. Ellsbury caught that ball, too.
"It’s so deep out there anyway, even if he didn’t get banged up and he falls, there’s a shot you could do it," said Gibbons. "That’s a very rare play, but it’s exciting, fun to watch."
Estrada handed a 7-1 lead over to Danny Barnes, recalled from triple-A Buffalo to help a spent bullpen as Aaron Sanchez hit the disabled list, and he cruised through the eighth before having to work around a couple of baserunners in the ninth. No worries there, as for once, margin for error was a rare luxury the Blue Jays enjoyed.
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