TORONTO – The last time Ross Stripling pitched at Minute Maid Park, the stakes were a little different. It was Game 5 of the 2017 World Series and Stripling, then a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was called in to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning with his team down three.
Stripling did his job that night, allowing a George Springer single before inducing a double-play ball from Alex Bregman, and the Dodgers would later tie it, but the Houston Astros eventually won 13-12 in extra innings.
Three days later, the Astros won it all. And two years after that? The Astros were exposed as cheaters who banged on trash cans that year to relay stolen signs to their hitters. While it’s unclear exactly how well Houston’s system worked in the playoffs, Dodgers president Andrew Friedman said "there was just a lot of speculation at the time about it." So what now?
“I wanted to take a step forward from all that stuff and recognize that, yeah, a lot of the lineup is still here from that team, for sure, but they're all really good players, man,” Stripling said.
“If I make that a bigger thing than it needs to be and now I've got the weight of a 2017 World Series on my shoulders while I'm trying to get through that lineup, it probably would have caused more issues than not. But certainly, rolled out of bed with that thought in my mind a little bit but tried to just treat it as any other start."
All of which to say, George Springer wasn’t the only Blue Jays player with some history in play in Friday evening’s 10-4 loss to the Astros. Nor was Teoscar Hernandez, who hit a two-run home run against his former team. Or Cavan Biggio, whose Hall of Fame father was in attendance to see him collect a hit and a walk while also getting caught stealing for the first time in his big-league career.
Yes, there are some real links between these two teams, and you might expect as much considering they made annual trades with one another from 2016-19 featuring the likes of Scott Feldman, Francisco Liriano, Roberto Osuna, Ken Giles, Trent Thornton, Aledmys Diaz, Aaron Sanchez, Joe Biagini and Derek Fisher.
That’s before we even get to Dave Hudgens, the former Houston hitting coach who’s now Toronto’s bench coach, or Michael Brantley, who nearly signed with the Blue Jays right after Springer did, only to return to Houston. The longtime teammates exchanged an embrace on the field before the game, but since a quad injury has forced him back to the injured list, Springer’s return to Houston wasn’t the occasion it could have been.
“To say extremely frustrating would be an understatement,” he said before the game. “Especially being new to the organization, being new to the team, I was excited to come and play and attempt to help any way I could.”
Pitching for the second time since returning from the injured list, Stripling lasted just 3.2 innings while allowing three earned runs. His velocity was up, with a max fastball velocity of 95.6 m.p.h. and many sliders hovering around the 90 m.p.h. mark, but he generated just six swinging strikes on 82 pitches, a sign that Houston's hitters weren't fooled.
To be fair, there was little Stripling could have done about the two-run homer Carlos Correa hit off of him in the second inning. The right-hander located a fastball about six inches off the plate inside only to see Correa turn on it and hit it off the left-field foul pole. If Stripling throws that same pitch to big-league hitters 100 times, how often does it leave the yard?
“Not often,” he said. “"For one, to keep it fair is impressive. Almost like you had to be looking for it. And I'm not trying to take anything from Carlos, that was a really good hit, but the first thing that goes through your mind is 'maybe I'm tipping my hand that I'm going there.' Maybe (Danny Jansen) sets up early and they're saying something from the dugout, or if I'm tipping with my glove or what. And it might just be good hitting. But that doesn't happen very often."
“Sometimes, you just tip your cap, man.”
As a group, the Blue Jays managed little against an effective Jose Urquidy, but Bo Bichette and Danny Jansen each hit solo home runs. While Jansen’s season batting average remains just .097, he now has home runs in consecutive games – an encouraging sign, especially since Alejandro Kirk is facing an extended stint on the injured list.
"I've been putting a lot of work in and I feel like I've made some adjustments for being ready to hit. Not just mechanical adjustments, but with my mind as well,” Jansen said. “My approach has definitely taken a change for the better. Looking to build off it.”
But along with those positives came further injury trouble for a Blue Jays team that has already seen plenty. Before the game, Joe Panik officially hit the injured list with a left calf strain, and midway through the eighth inning, Rafael Dolis exited with right calf tightness that will lead to an MRI Saturday.
From Springer to Stripling and Dolis, it added up to a disappointing evening for the Blue Jays. The Astros may not be what they once were and the Blue Jays are certainly a team on the rise, but Houston’s still capable of winning some lopsided games – especially when their longtime star is on the other team’s injured list.
