BALTIMORE — Muscle memory took over for Anthony Santander at Camden Yards Saturday afternoon.
Long before first pitch he had to pick up a delivery, so he walked along the ballpark's service level toward the right field line, where he’d always gone as an Orioles player. But realizing he was now a visitor at the ballpark he’d called home for the last eight years, he turned around and headed to the appropriate entrance then back to the Toronto Blue Jays’ clubhouse.
“Kind of weird,” he acknowledged. “(But) it feels great coming back to the city.”
What happened later was far more familiar for the crowd of 22,130 at Camden Yards as Santander hit a no-doubt home run over the right field wall — his first as a Blue Jay — to give his new team a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Ultimately, that lead would be short-lived though as the Orioles rallied against Toronto starter Bowden Francis and put together a 5-4 win over Santander and his new team.
Santander acknowledged the crowd's ovations multiple times, ahead of his first at-bat as a visitor and later after a video montage celebrating his time in Baltimore played on the centre field scoreboard. Even after his home run there were plenty of cheers for Santander, who hit 155 career home runs with the Orioles.
“When you feel that fans really love you it means a lot,” said Santander. “Especially since they saw me grow up here as a player and as a person.”
It’s been a slow start for the 30-year-old, but the familiarity of Camden Yards boosted his spirits as he arrived at the ballpark Saturday.
“I always go in with the mentality of hitting the ball hard,” he said with a smile. “It took me 15 games, but I’m so happy that I did it … I haven’t been performing the way I wanted, but I’ll keep working hard.”
From the third base dugout, Santander’s teammates noticed the reception from the crowd.
“It’s awesome,” Francis said. “For them to welcome him back like that was special and I know he felt it. When you’re back where you started I think it’s kind of a sigh of relief or a reset for him and I think it’s going to open up the season for him.”
Before the game, a cold weather contest in which the Orioles wore full orange uniforms and the Blue Jays wore baby blue, manager John Schneider expressed optimism that Santander was about to break out of his early season slump. Soon afterwards, another coach predicted the switch hitter would homer Saturday.
“Cool moment here,” Schneider said following the game. “Really cool that they recognized him the way they did and rightfully so for what he did here. So hopefully he can take a deep breath and I can stop saying before the games that he's getting close because he took some really good swings today.”
But one home run wasn’t enough on a day the Blue Jays’ offence slowed down late, and they now rank 30th among the 30 MLB teams with just seven total homers this season. Clearly, they need more power to improve on their 8-7 record and while history tells us the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette will provide plenty of home runs, the sooner that happens the better.
In the fifth inning with the Blue Jays looking to add onto their lead, the umpires ruled that Guerrero Jr. left first base early on a Santander fly ball, so the Orioles were credited with double play. Yet replays were far from conclusive on the matter, and there are limited camera angles of first base so the Blue Jays decided not to challenge as the call would very likely have stood.
“I love Vlad’s intent there,” Schneider said. “(But) the call’s not getting overturned. Just surprised the call was made on the field.”
As for Francis, the right-hander took a perfect game into the fifth inning before allowing a Heston Kjerstad home run for his first hit of the day. Adley Rutschman added a home run of his own in the sixth, an inning that spiralled for Francis when Cedric Mullins doubled to left centre field and two runners scored.
“I’ve just got to make an adjustment,” Francis said. “Grab onto that time when they try to gain the momentum and stop the momentum.”
Still, there were plenty of positives to be found for Francis on Saturday. The Orioles are a legitimately tough offence and his splitter continued to look like a difference-making pitch, leading to two strikeouts of leadoff hitter Gunnar Henderson.
“It just gives his fastball more deception, and then he's been locating his fastball,” Schneider said. “It puts a little bit of doubt into hitters’ heads. He's always had a very deceptive fastball with his delivery. And I think just having another pitch that tunnels off of that has been really good for him.”
“I think I had good feel for it,” Francis added. “We were on a good roll there with mixing it up.”
In the end, though, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Orioles offence and the Blue Jays had few answers beyond Santander’s early homer. Now they hand the ball to Jose Berrios Sunday in the hopes of ending this three-city road trip 4-5 rather than 3-6.
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