Unpredictable Jays bounce back
Estrada strikes out dozen, torrid Travis goes deep to salvage series finale
BALTIMORE— In the end, the Blue Jays found a lifeline against the Orioles.
Second baseman Devon Travis’s threerun homer in the first inning proved to be more than enough offence behind starter Marco Estrada, who match his career high with 12 strikeouts on the way to a 3-1 victory over the O’s at Camden Yards on Sunday.
The reliable righty, known as a guy the Jays can count on to stop the bleeding, went 72⁄ strong innings before Joe
3 Smith and Roberto Osuna closed out their only win of the three-game series.
“It’s a good feeling just to win a ball game,” Estrada said after improving to 3-2 and racking up a dozen Ks for the first time in five years. He’s feasted on Baltimore with a career 5-1 mark and a tidy 1.33 ERA in three meetings this season.
It’s been a roller-coaster ride for the Jays, who were on a 9-4 roll in May before dropping three of four to the Atlanta Braves last week — in a pair of ugly twogame series that included Kevin Pillar’s homophobic slur, bench clearings and the latest in a long list of injuries — then losing the weekend series here.
They’d hoped a 9-0 romp in Atlanta on Thursday — their largest margin of victory of the season — would turn the tide. But in Friday night’s opener against the Orioles, delayed twice by rain, they were 5-3 losers on Welington Castillo’s walkoff homer in the 10th inning.
Then on Saturday, after losing starter Aaron Sanchez to the disabled list for the third time with a finger injury, Castillo’s bat beat them again.
“It’s been a tough go,” Jays manager John Gibbons said after Sunday’s game. “We came off a nice win in Atlanta, came here, really could have won either one of the first games, too. And then (Saturday) night with the lead late and coughing up, it can kind of suck the wind out of you sometimes.
“We bounced back today, but our guys do that.”
The Jays knew they were in for a rough ride against their AL East rivals, loaded offensively with the likes of Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis.
“One through nine, there’s no breaks over there,” Estrada said. “They’ve got a great lineup. It’s a very talented lineup. You’ve got to make pitches because any one of those guys can hit it out, especially here in this ball park.”
Jones did hit one out on Sunday afternoon — the 124th he’s launched at Camden Yards, tying the franchise record set by Rafael Palmeiro. The Orioles’ only run came three innings after Travis’ shot to left field scored Kendrys Morales and Justin Smoak.
Estrada, Smith and Osuna — who earned his sixth save — combined to allow seven hits on the day. The Orioles finished 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
After a rough start to the year — his .239 batting average is up from .152 just two weeks ago — the 26-year-old Travis is riding a hot streak. His 14 doubles in May lead the majors. The homer was his second of the year.
Travis has had modest success against Baltimore starter Wade Miley — 8-for-30 — and said the lefthander has always been “really tough.” It didn’t look that way in the first, when Travis took him over the wall on the first pitch he saw.
“I just was going up there with, honestly, the intent of seeing something up in the zone, and I saw something that started up in the zone and thankfully got a good swing on it and found some barrel,” he said.
“It was the start that we needed right there.”
That recent hot streak had Travis moving up to bat fifth in the order, while Sunday’s seven through nine hitters have gone ice cold: Darwin Barney is 1-for-20 on the road trip, Ryan Goins 1-for-14, Luke Maile 2for-13.
With still no firm return date for either third baseman Josh Donaldson (calf injury) or shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (hamstring), the Jays need more production from the replacements as they head to Milwaukee for a two-game set after Monday’s off-day.
While they’re just 19-26 overall, dead last in the division, they are 7-7 in the series openers. Joe Biagini will get the start Tuesday night at Miller Park.