‘Bloop and a blast’ power O’s sweep
BLUE JAYS: Homers by Baltimore’s slugging duo of Jones and Davis send Toronto to 0-2 start to the season
BALTIMORE — Together, Adam Jones and Chris Davis have the potential to be a formidable slugging force in the Orioles’ lineup, whoever their opponent might be.
But when they face the Toronto Blue Jays, these bad birds jump off the scoresheet and out of the park with more regularity than any active batters in baseball.
A two-run shot from Jones and a solo blast from Davis did all the damage in Wednesday’s 3-1 Orioles win at Camden Yards, sweeping the Jays to start the 2017 season.
For Davis, it was his 36th homer against their AL East rival and the 33rd from Jones, far more than anyone else has hit against the Jays of those still swinging a bat. “That’s what they do probably better than anybody in baseball,” Jays manager John Gibbons said of a prolific Orioles attack that led the majors with 253 homers last year. “That’s the difference in the two games — they hit the three homers.”
Add to the fact both Jones and Davis have had their run-ins with Jays slugger Jose Bautista in the past and the result drew even more pleasure from the skimpy crowd of 16,086 at Camden Yards.
The Jays managed 18 hits in the two games against the Orioles, including seven in Wednesday’s swift two hour 23 minute affair.
But sprinkled over too many innings and without the killer blow, they essentially wasted solid starts from J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada.
Gibbons isn’t about to panic — nor should he — but the stutter start offensively sent the team south to Florida, where with Marcus Stroman on the mound they’ll seek their first win of the season in Thursday’s opener of a four-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays.
But Gibbons is willingly transparent to acknowledge that if his team is going to be a factor in the AL East, they’ll have to do it with offence. It’s a reality now fresh in their minds given the manner in which the Orioles finished off the sweep.
Besides the two blasts Wednesday, a Mark Trumbo walk-off homer in the 11th inning Monday was the killer blow.
“They beat us with what we also do,” Gibbons said. “That’s the reality of it. We’ll hit.”
It wasn’t as if the Jays didn’t have their chances, including in the ninth inning when they loaded up the bases against O’s closer Zach Britton with one out. But when former Oriole Steve Pearce grounded out into an inning-ending double-play, Britton had his 121st career save and the Jays their second loss of the season.
Even beleaguered first baseman Justin Smoak was contributing, recording a single and a double.
And the Jays had some help defensively from centre-fielder Kevin Pillar, who tracked down a Manny Machado liner that would have either been a homer or extra bases.
“They’re tough, they’re a power lineup, no doubt about it,” said Happ, who started Wednesday. “We knew that going in. A bloop and a blast was enough tonight.”
The bloop, from Happ’s view, was the two-run Jones homer where the lanky Jays lefty “felt like I made my pitch” only to see the O’s centre-fielder just muscle it over the short left-field wall.
The blast was a Davis hit that sailed over the 418-foot marker in deep centre field on a pitch Happ said he was attempting to be aggressive with.
Overall, Happ had a solid night, working seven innings and allowing just five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. It was his first loss in six consecutive starts against the Orioles and the first time he hadn’t issued a walk since last June.
“Overall, I felt like I was throwing a lot of strikes and that’s a good sign,” Happ said. “I feel like if I pitch like that, good things are going to happen more often than not.”
As solid as Happ was, Orioles starter Dylan Bundy edged toward spectacular and wasn’t yielding much to the Jays. The up-and-comer of the Baltimore staff went seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits. In just his 15th career start, Bundy also registered eight of the 11 Orioles strikeouts against a frustrated Jays attack.
Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson may be most indicative of the Jays near-miss offence at this point. While he had three of those strikeouts, he also had a single, giving him four hits in two games.
Designated hitter Kendrys Morales also had a hit, but in each of his two games as a Jay he has a had a loud fly ball out to the warning track.