Line Score - Final
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DET | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Box Score
| TOR | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | DET | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3B | Drury | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | 2B | Harrison | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 | |
| RF | Grichuk | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | RF | Castellanos | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .333 | |
| LF | Hernández, T | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | 1B | Cabrera | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| 1B | Smoak | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 3B | Candelario | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | |
| 2B | Gurriel Jr. | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | DH | Goodrum | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .333 | |
| CF | Pillar | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | LF | Stewart, C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .250 | |
| DH | Tellez | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | C | Greiner | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | |
| C | Jansen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | SS | Mercer | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | |
| SS | Galvis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | CF | Mahtook | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| TOR | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | P-S | ERA | DET | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | P-S | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroman | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 94-53 | 0.00 | Zimmermann | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 70-47 | 0.00 | |
| Biagini | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14-10 | 0.00 | Jiménez, J | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14-8 | 0.00 | |
| Giles | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12-9 | 0.00 | Alcántara, V | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11-7 | 0.00 | |
| Hudson, D | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17-13 | 18.00 | Greene | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13-9 | 0.00 |
Welcome to the rebuild (feat. Free Baseball™)!
There’s something cathartic about having a collective understanding that the Blue Jays are not going to be good this year, and that really, that’s okay. Maybe it was just the usual Opening Day excitement, but I thought there was something worth cheering for today, even if the end goal isn’t to win. I want to see the kids play.
And here’s a quick tip from my Opening Day soap box - if you’re going to be all curmudgeonly and feel the need to point out that this team is bad and that it’s going to be a long season every time that something goes wrong and shout about the manager or the front office or Rowdy Tellez’s weight, then this is going to be a miserable year for you, and you’ll quickly become insufferable to others. As said above, once you adjust your expectations, you’re bound to enjoy the season a bit more.
Now on to the game itself…
One of the few veterans on this year’s roster had one heck of a performance. Marcus Stroman got off to a great start, with a line of 7.0 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 7 K. After a four-pitch walk to the first batter of the game, which seemed to be caused by high energy from the pre-game, he settled down nicely. The most encouraging part of Stroman’s performance was the combination of strikeouts and low pitch count. With a relatively weak defensive team behind him, it will be hard to find success as a groundball pitcher. And when Stroman gets strikeouts, he tends to see his pitch count rise quickly in the middle innings. That didn’t happen today, though, and the Jays’ ace had the Opening Day he would have dreamt of.
As for the bats… well, Jordan Zimmermann pitched had a nice outing. The offence didn’t do much of anything. Zimmermann actually had a perfect game rolling through 6.2 innings, until Teoscar Hernandez broke it up with an infield single. Apart from that, the only other highlight against Zimmermann must have been the deep flyout that Danny Jansen hit in the 3rd. Zimmermann only had four strikeouts, but the Blue Jays seemed to have adopted a “hit ‘em where they are” sort of approach. It was that kind of day.
The Jays second hit of the game came with one out in the 9th, when Brandon Drury laced a single into left field. The Jays didn’t do anything with that, and did even less in the 10th inning. Brutal performance on offence.
With Stroman’s strong outing, the bullpen had a limited appearance today. That will be a good thing all season long. In a surprising twist, Joe Biagini was the first reliever out of the chute, though I suppose Montoyo doesn’t have many other established relievers for high leverage situations. And you know what? Montoyo nailed it. Biagini struck out the side, retiring Jordi Mercer, Mikie Mahtook, and Josh Harrison.
Montoyo took what appeared to be another gamble in the 9th, when he turned to Ken Giles in a non-save situation. The strikeout train continued, as Nick Castellanos struck out on a ball in the dirt, and Miguel Cabrera struck out after that, and Jeimer Candelario made it three strikeouts in a row. Again.
Six batters, six strikeouts. I did not expect that from Biagini and Giles.
Daniel Hudson made his Blue Jays debut in the 10th. Niko Goodrum hit a leadoff double. Things got worse after that, when Christin Stewart hit a two-run homer. It was an ugly slider. After a quick out, he hit Mercer with a fastball. Hudson bounced back after that, striking out Mahtook and Harrison to end the inning.
I will quickly point out that Hudson has been better than John Axford over the past two seasons. At this point in the game, with Biagini and Giles already used, I think it would have been understandable to go to Axford had he been available. And let’s be fair - the other options were Gaviglio, Mayza, Guerra, and Luciano. Hudson was the most established reliever available. So that’s my defence of the decision to go to him. But he didn’t pitch well today.
Anyway. That doesn’t make the loss any better. The pitching was excellent until it wasn’t, and the offence was non-existent. Matt Shoemaker takes on former Blue Jay Matt/Matthew Boyd tomorrow night.
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