Rain washes out Jays’ weekend in Cleveland
As Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marco Estrada sat in the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field watching Danny Barnes play a golf game on a nearby machine, pitching coach Pete Walker walked past.
“What you got, Pete?” Estrada asked.
“Want to know if you’re going to throw on the side,” Walker answered.
“Seriously?” Estrada answered with a laugh.
Walker wasn’t being serious. Put it this way: If an ark floated down Eagle Avenue past Progressive Field on Sunday, nobody would have blinked an eye.
The weather in Cleveland — much like Toronto — was miserable over the weekend, resulting in two postponements after the Jays won the opener over the Indians 8-4 on Friday.
A doubleheader will be played at Progressive Field on May 3, a scheduled day off, beginning at 1:10 p.m.
The Jays open a three-game series in Minnesota on April 30. Instead of catching some sun before a three-game series against the host Tampa Bay Rays that starts May 4, they’ll squeeze in a twin bill.
“I know a lot of guys do live in Tampa and were looking forward to that off day and are a little bummed, but for someone like me who lives nowhere near there, it really doesn’t affect me at all,” Estrada said.
“It’s baseball. We’ve got to work when we’ve got to work and we’ll be ready to play that doubleheader.”
Left-hander Jaime Garcia was scheduled to start Saturday and got pushed to Sunday.
But with both games postponed, manager John Gibbons and the coaching staff were left with a decision on whether to keep the rotation in order and start Garcia on Monday when the Jays open a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals in Toronto.
Estrada said having two unscheduled days off might bother some starters who are real creatures of habit, but he’s good with it.
“Normally I like being on my five-day (schedule), but sometimes these things happen and you’ve just got to deal with it,” said Estrada, who is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA in three starts this season.
“But I think for me it came at a pretty good time because I had a little bit of a back spasm in my last outing and this gives me a few extra days to rest and it should be 100 per cent by the next one.”
Barring a change, the rotation would be Garcia on Monday, followed by fellow lefty J.A. Happ on Tuesday, Aaron Sanchez on Wednesday, Estrada on Thursday in New York and Marcus Stroman on Friday.
Estrada said another downside is that the rainouts could dampen the roll the Jays have been on. Toronto won four of its last five. “Obviously we’ve been playing really well and you want to keep that momentum going,” Estrada said. “But hopefully it’s not going to affect anything. Maybe our first game out (Monday) we might be a little rusty, but I don’t think taking two days off is going to affect anybody.” Fancy footwork: Curtis Granderson had custom-made sneakers to wear on Jackie Robinson Day on Sunday. Because the game was postponed, he’ll wear them at the Rogers Centre on Monday. The Jays will also wear Robinson’s No. 42. Granderson’s shoes also honour Larry Doby, the first AfricanAmerican to play in the American League. Doby joined the Indians shortly after Robinson arrived in Brooklyn to play with the Dodgers. Doby broke in with Cleveland — hence why Granderson decided to honour Doby.
Spotless stopper: Roberto Osuna pitched a one-two-three ninth inning — his sixth clean outing of the season — to finish Friday’s game. In his last 12 games dating back to last season, Toronto’s 23-year-old closer has not allowed a run while converting all nine of his save opportunities, including the 100th of his career last Tuesday. During that stretch, only two batters have reached base, both on singles.