CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies combined for 14 runs and 26 hits over a tedious three-hour, 32-minute Grapefruit League contest Tuesday night that moved so slowly, Marco Estrada could hardly believe he only threw 61 pitches over his four innings of work.
“Really?” he replied when informed of his total. “Felt like 100.”
For the Blue Jays’ opening day starter, the grind in his final start before the big outing Monday in Baltimore against the Orioles was exactly what he wanted. Throwing primarily changeups to lock down his bread-and-butter offering, Estrada allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a 10-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Cesar Hernandez, Freddy Galvis, Odubel Herrera and Howie Kendrick each put tough at-bats on Estrada, doing just enough to foul off quality changeups while taking borderline fastballs home-plate umpire John Bacon could have justifiably called strikes, especially if he wanted the game to not crawl along.
Still, fighting through the kind of long inning the Phillies dropped in the two-run third under the lights at Spectrum Field is something Estrada feels will be beneficial once the bell rings.
“I needed this mentally, physically,” he said. “There was an inning or two when it was a grind. Guys kept fouling pitches off. I’m glad I got to experience that and pitch in a night game. The whole sleeping pattern part of it is a little messed up right now. I woke up at six in the morning because that’s what you’ve been doing for a month and a half. I’m glad I got that in.”
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Josh Donaldson was far less effusive about his big night, despite lining a double to right-centre in the fourth for his first hit of the spring before crushing a no-doubt solo shot to right field in the fifth. He had been 0-for-9 with four walks in Grapefruit League play entering the night in a spring truncated by a calf strain, but felt he was in a good spot, positive results or not.
“I’ve hit some balls pretty decent so far in camp, I haven’t really had much to show for it but, honestly, I wouldn’t have cared if I had a hit in the entire spring training,” said Donaldson. “As long as I’m seeing the ball well, that’s all that matters right now.”
Staying on pitches and driving them through the middle of the field is a good indicator that Donaldson is doing that.
“It’s always nice for a ball to fall,” he said. “At the same time, for me it’s being able to recognize pitches early. I haven’t really even tried to zone in on an approach because there are some guys I haven’t even faced before, going up there not knowing what they have. … At the end of the day, it’s just nice to be able to recognize pitches early and seeing more pitches, that definitely helps.”
Donaldson was far from the only Blue Jays hitter locked in Tuesday.
Troy Tulowitzki with his first and Melvin Upton Jr., with his second both homered in a second inning Phillies starter Aaron Nola didn’t survive, while Devon Travis had three hits in four at-bats, falling a homer short of the cycle.
Kendrys Morales also had three hits while Mike Ohlman added his third homer of the spring in the eighth inning.
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Estrada would love to get similar offensive support next week against the Orioles, when he makes the first opening day start of his career.
He described getting the nod as a “huge honour,” and quipped that the Blue Jays “basically had a hat and they just pulled my name out.”
“It could’ve been any one of the other guys. That’s how deep we are,” Estrada added. “There’s no one, there’s no two, there’s no three. We’re all about the same and it just goes to show you how good this staff is.”
Estrada believes he did all he needed to do get his season and the Blue Jays campaign off on the right foot at Camden Yards. Due to throw only around 60 pitches as a taper down before opening day, he says he felt strong enough to easily throw 90, and though his fastball command was off, the work on his changeup was key.
“Russ [Martin] knows that I wanted to work on changeups and that’s what he called,” said Estrada. “We did that a lot. I’m looking for swings. When I get guys out in front, even if they’re fouling them off, they’re ending up on a knee. It’s exactly what I want to see.”
J.A. Happ starts the Blue Jays’ Grapefruit League finale Wednesday at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium versus the visiting New York Yankees before the team heads north to Montreal for a pair of exhibition games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
