TORONTO — Lost in the controversy, and the benches-clearing fireworks, and the tall boys raining on the field, and the Tarantino-fight-scene of a seventh inning, and the champagne, and the jubilation, and the craziest, most absurd, outrageous, downright unbelievable game of baseball Toronto has ever seen, was Marcus Stroman.
The 24-year-old with the nasty two-seamer and repaired left knee, who was said to be finished for the season six months ago, took the ball in the most important game the Blue Jays have played in decades and absolutely dealt.
Using a six-pitch mix he earned 10 swinging strikes and struck out four, while allowing just six hits and two runs over six innings. The only damage came in the first, on a fielder’s choice, and the third, on a Shin Soo-Choo home run. Otherwise, he quieted a lefty-stacked lineup for the second time in six days, hitting his groove in the fourth inning as he retired eight of the last 11 batters he faced.
While the preposterous game he pitched in eventually overshadowed his strong outing, those around the Blue Jays clubhouse took notice.
“Stro, man…. For a young kid….” said Troy Tulowitzki, trailing off a couple times as he searched for words. “Look, I’ve been around a lot of pitchers. And he’s different. He’s made different. He likes this. I think that’s why they gave him the ball.”
Tulowitzki’s right. With David Price in the fold—an ace left-hander acquired for a stiff bounty at the trade deadline—everyone under the sun figured the 30-year-old veteran would get the ball in the first game of this series and the last. But it didn’t work out that way.
When Price started warming up in the bullpen during Game 3, and then logged three innings of relief in Game 4, it was more than clear who Blue Jays management wanted on the mound with their season on the line. The 24-year-old homegrown talent who loves a big stage.
“He went above and beyond today. He really did,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “That wasn’t easy. I thought early on he was a little bit off, but then he settled in and he did what he had to. He kept us right there.”
Stroman had several big moments in this game, but maybe none bigger than his strikeouts of Choo and Prince Fielder in the top of the fifth inning to keep the Blue Jays deficit at one. He got Choo to chase his two-seamer, which was viciously effective all night, and Fielder to swing over a changeup, Stroman’s newest pitch which he went to 11 times in the outing with three of them generating whiffs from Rangers hitters.
He carried that energy over to his sixth and final inning, when he manhandled future Hall-of-Famer Adrian Beltre on three two-seamers, before sandwiching a Josh Hamilton double with two soft ground outs and marching off the field.
He kept the Rangers contained and handed the ball off to two pitchers even younger than him, 22-year-old Aaron Sanchez and 20-year-old Roberto Osuna. And we all know what happened after that.
“It was a crazy game. An emotional roller-coaster for sure. A lot of ups and downs,” Stroman said. “I took a lot of deep breaths. I feel like I do a good job of being able to step off the mound, get my composure, and then dial it back in. I realize the type of team we have. I let them play defence behind me, I let them hit—and I pitch with confidence that those guys are going to get the job done.”
What’s even more remarkable is Stroman outduelled Rangers ace Cole Hamels, a high-priced trade deadline acquisition like Price, who lasted a third of an inning longer than Stroman but also gave up three more runs. Coming into the game, Hamels had started four times with a chance for his team to clinch a post-season series, with his teams winning all four. He had a 2.05 ERA in those games, including his most recent, a complete-game shutout of the Cincinnati Reds in the 2010 NLDS. And Stroman beat him.
“I was going up against one of the best arms to pitch in playoff history,” Stroman said. “I did everything in my power to keep my team in a position to win. I knew we were bound to break out at some point.”
After the game, in a booze-drenched clubhouse, Stroman was everywhere. He had his inner circle around him—his parents, his best friends, “Sanchey,” even one of the trainers who helped him recover from ACL surgery at Duke—and he let them all breathe it in with him.
He enjoyed the moment to the absolute fullest, dancing and hugging and spraying champagne. And he should. Because in the ALCS the Blue Jays could call on him twice again, first in Game 3, which will be his next chance to pitch on normal rest, and then potentially in Game 7, when the season would be on the line once again. Can you imagine how locked in Stroman would be now that he’s pitched in that situation once before?
“We came back from being down 2-0. To come back and win when we were down two, that’s special. That’s crazy. This group of guys is so confident and hungry for more,” Stroman said, as Mark Buehrle poured champagne down the back of his shirt. “I mean, just look at this—this is special, man. I got my whole family here; my friends are here; my brothers are here. It’s crazy. It’s awesome. It couldn’t feel any better.”