Liriano looks to get back on track
TORONTO After a stellar spring, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Francisco Liriano was as surprised as anyone with his season-opening effort last weekend against the Tampa Bay Rays, in which he allowed five runs and failed to get out of the first inning.
Liriano gets the opportunity to make up for it on Thursday when the Jays face the visiting Baltimore Orioles in the first of a four-game series.
“I’ll try to go out there and make some good pitches and put it all behind me,” the Jays lefty said on Wednesday. “Forget about it. You’re going to have games like that. The season didn’t start the way I wanted, but it happens.”
The Jays are expecting big things out of Liriano, who struggled with his location in his first start, a 10-8 Jays loss.
“I don’t expect him to do that again,” said Jays backup catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who was behind the plate for Liriano’s start last Friday. “Typically from what I’ve seen he’ll have one game like that. Maybe it was nerves in that first game — it just didn’t work out our way. (Rays hitters) didn’t chase pitches that they normally would.”
With Josh Donaldson back in the Jays’ lineup after missing most of Tuesday’s contest with a calf injury, Jays manager John Gibbons had to shuffle the lineup for Game 2 of Toronto’s two-game series against Milwaukee.
Because the team doesn’t want to see Donaldson run the bases and aggravate the injury, he took over designated hitter duties on Wednesday as the Jays sought a series split. That prompted Gibbons to move Kendrys Morales from DH to first base and utility infielder Darwin Barney over to third.
MARTIN STRUGGLES
Jays catcher Russell Martin was on the verge of some dubious club history heading into Wednesday ’s contest at the Rogers Centre.
Martin hit a double in the seventh inning, but he went into the game tied for the third-longest season-opening streak in Jays history, with 18 consecutive atbats without a hit. The record of 21 was set by another catcher, Pat Borders, in 1991.
“He’s really focused, but he’s a human being too,” Gibbons said when asked if he felt Martin was pressing at the plate. “Nobody wants to do better than him. I think his mind’s clear. He’s up there battling.”
QUICK HITS
Heading into the series finale against the Brewers, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had driven in nine of the team’s 23 runs thus far … With a record of 1-6, the Jays were five games below .500 for the first time since June 3, 2015 … The Jays also had the potential to drop their first three series of the season for the first time since 2013. The asterisk in that stat, however, is that two of the three series in these latest struggles have been two-game affairs … Though the Brewers were a much more familiar foe back when they were in the American League, it seems odd to have an NL opponent for the home-opening series. But the Jays have generally done well in interleague play, including a 38-23 record over the past three seasons. As well, no team has hit more home runs in interleague action since 2010 than the Jays at 199 … With six consecutive losses in home openers, the Jays are tied for the third-longest streak in the majors since 1980.