BLUE JAYS STRIKE BACK
Stroman shuts down O’s with career-high 119-pitch effort
Marcus Stroman delivered for the Blue Jays in Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre. Stroman improved to 8-4 on the season, twice as many wins as any other Jays starter, with 72⁄ shutout innings. Said 3 Stroman post-game: "I love this city. I love pitching in Toronto." Jose Bautista and Justin Smoak went deep, while closer Roberto Osuna slammed the door, striking out the side in the ninth. They’ll look to take the three-game series tonight.
The Blue Jays will never be capable of putting runs on the scoreboard consistently, or become contenders, until they find someone with a bat to produce a hot streak with runners in scoring position.
If hitting is contagious, then maybe that one guy leading the way will do it. But for now it must be the long ball.
These Jays rely on a home-run, quick-strike offence as they proved again on Wednesday night in a 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre.
Oh yes, it helped immensely to get pitching like starter Marcus Stroman provided on this night, moving his record to 8-4 — twice as many wins as any other Jays pitcher.
“He was good. He was really good,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “I thought he got stronger as the game went on. It’s a dangerous team that’s tough to shut down. We needed that game desperately.” The Jays moved back to three games under .500 spurred by a pair of solo homers, but mainly it was a victory thanks to the strong right arm of Stroman, who came up big with his team sorely needing it. Stroman went 72⁄ innings, his lon
3 gest outing since April 23 at Anaheim. He threw 119 pitches, the highest count of his four-year career. Stroman had thrown 115 pitches in a game twice in 2014.
“I looked into the dugout when I got off the mound. (Pitching coach) Pete (Walker) kind of gave me a nod that I was staying in, so I was happy about that,” Stroman said. “Me and Russ (Martin) were on the same page all night and just happy to get the win. I feel like I could have went another inning, another two innings.”
After scoring just one run in the series opener, Jose Bautista equalled that total with his first swing, a solo homer to right field off left-hander Wade Miley, his first opposite-field blast since Sept. 21, 2015 at Yankee Stadium. It was also the first home run leading off a game by the Jays this season, but Bautista’s ninth such bomb. His last leadoff homer was Aug. 31, 2016 at Baltimore.
“It makes a big difference when you take the lead,” Gibbons said. “We’ve been giving up a lot in the first inning, playing catch-up. It’s good to do it that way tonight.”
The Jays have been forced to come from behind in 23 of their 37 victories. But with the homer by Bautista, it was a lead they managed to hold all night.
The Jays added a run in support of Stroman when first baseman Justin Smoak homered to straightaway centre field, leading off the fourth. The homer was his 21st of the season, a career high.
“We expect that every night from everybody,” Smoak said of the early homer by Bautista. “We expect to go out there and score five, eight runs a night, but we haven’t done that as of late. Hopefully we can get hot.
The Smoak blast was also marked the most by a Jays switch hitter prior to the all-star break, snapping a tie with Jose Cruz, who did it in 2000. He now sits one switch-hit homer behind the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira for the most in the majors prior to the midsummer classic since 2015. Smoak has 10 more games to pass Teixeira.
“It’s pretty cool when names are up there,” Smoak admitted. “I’ve had a great first half, but it’s not really how you start, it’s how you finish. It’s been an honour to be with those names and I’ve just got to keep it going.”
Another good sign for the Jays was closer Roberto Osuna entering in a non-save situation and striking out the side in the ninth inning.