TORONTO – When Josh Donaldson returned to the Toronto Blue Jays with four hits, two of them homers, during the doubleheader in Cleveland last week, it looked like he might come back from three weeks on the disabled list without missing a beat.
Rarely does that happen, however, and an 0-for-19 stretch followed that didn’t end until his leadoff double in the eighth inning of Wednesday night’s 5-2 comeback win over the Seattle Mariners.
Heading into Thursday’s series finale with the Mariners, his rhythm, timing and pitch recognition at the plate all remained works in progress.
“It’s been in and out, very inconsistent as of late,” said Donaldson. “That’s part of it, getting back into playing every day, facing different pitchers day-in, day-out. It’s going to come, I’m not worried about that, I’m just happy with how it’s played along to this point, as far as how my body feels and how it’s responding.”
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The stint on the disabled list was just the second of Donaldson’s career and things played out a bit differently performance-wise after he missed about six weeks last year with a calf injury. He went 19-for-57 in his first 15 games back before grinding through an 8-for-65 stretch over the next 18 contests.
Eventually Donaldson found his level, slashing .288/.404/.617 with 25 homers over his final 71 games.
“As soon as I’ve come off the DL the past couple of times, the first few days I’ve felt really good, I have a lot of excitement, get some adrenaline going,” said Donaldson. “Then playing those couple of days, then having to continue to bounce back day-in and day-out, the body has to recover and respond. There are going to be days when I come in and it takes a little bit more to get ready for the game than others, and there are some days where I have to work not as much to allow myself a chance to recover. That’s what we’re all fighting in here because we play so many games. I’m all for it, I love it, but that’s just the nature of the beast.”
Shoulder-wise, Donaldson continues to feel better about the way he’s throwing the ball. He enjoyed a DH day on Wednesday but was back on the hot corner Thursday.
“I think you can probably tell from the last time I was here to now there’s a difference,” he said. “I feel very comfortable and very capable of performing.”
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CLOSING TIME
Tyler Clippard got the ball for the Blue Jays’ first save opportunity after Roberto Osuna’s arrest and placement on administrative leave by MLB, but that doesn’t mean the veteran righty is the club’s new closer.
Manager John Gibbons said that he likes Clippard against lefties and Ryan Tepera against righties, and if a lineup featuring tough lefties comes up in the eighth inning, for example, he’d let the situation dictate decisions. That’s why pitching coach Pete Walker has told the club’s late-inning relievers to be ready for different innings late in games.
“Normally (having defined roles) is the way it goes, when you’ve got your closer guys just evolve into certain jobs, but you can’t always do that,” said Gibbons. “That helps them, too. But since they bare so different and have different strengths, you look at the lineup a little bit, too.”
Like John Axford and Seung-hwan Oh, Clippard has some closing experience, collecting 32 saves for the Washington Nationals in 2012 and 19 more for Oakland and the Mets in 2015. Asked if there’s any sort of mental adjustment that needs to be made pitching the ninth, he replied, “Yes and no.”
“The ninth is a fun inning to pitch and there’s definitely a little more adrenaline, a little more crowd support, those types of things, which is fun for us as players,” Clippard continued. “I do my best to try and pitch every inning like it’s the ninth, like it’s a one-run game and go out there, whether it’s the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, whatever, that’s my approach, and it helps me when I get those opportunities to pitch the ninth, to stay there and do the same things I’ve always done.”
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SHORT HOPS
Randal Grichuk (right knee sprain) began light baseball activities Thursday in Dunedin, Fla., that included hitting off a tee and running. Barring setbacks, he’ll be re-evaluated next week with an eye toward getting him out on a rehab assignment. … Right-hander T.J. Zeuch, the 2016 first-rounder, was promoted to double-A New Hampshire earlier this week, allowing five runs, four earned, in four innings in his debut. … Shortstop Kevin Smith, a fourth-round pick last year, has been quietly tearing things up at low-A Lansing, batting .370/.417/.639 through his first 30 games.
