SMOAKED SALAMI: JAY’S GRAND SLAM SALVAGES A SPLIT
Toronto gets where 2017 roster never could by pulling even at .500, Rob Longley writes.
Any thought that the Smoak Show was merely a oneact vignette can be put to rest. Off to a booming start, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Justin Smoak belted a grand slam in the eighth inning on Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre, powering his team to a 7-4 win over the New York Yankees. The blast came just an inning after a two-run homer from Smoak, who is letting his bat tell us his breakthrough all-star campaign in 2017 was no fluke. The winning shot, which cleared the wall in deep centre field, ended a nine-pitch at-bat with dangerous Yankees reliever David Robertson. It allowed the Jays to salvage a 2-2 series split against the powerful Yanks as they reached the .500 mark in earnest for the first time since the end of the 2016 season. “The goal is to go out there and help your ball club win, so when you do that, it always feels really good,” said Smoak, who has hits in six of his last nine at-bats. “Honestly, I feel like I let us down in the first inning: first and third, nobody out and punching out. “To come up there and have another opportunity, you want to capitalize on that.”
The winning shot, which electrified an Easter Sunday crowd of 29,091, was just the second grand slam of Smoak’s career, both of which have come against the Yankees.
The 38 homers last season were a rare bright spot for the Jays. Best of all, many of his big homers have come in clutch situations.
“You can’t do any better than he did today: the game on the line ... against one of the top relievers in baseball,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Smoak, whose six RBIs matched a single-game career high. “He’s really coming into his own, a late bloomer here. It’s nice to see.” Smoak’s opportunity presented itself in the form of a snub. With two outs and runners on second and third, Yankees manager Aaron Boone opted to walk Josh Donaldson, loading the bases to get to Smoak. Big mistake.
Then began the duel between Smoak and Robertson. “Once I got to two strikes, I was just battling, honestly,” Smoak said. “Just trying to square it up and put it in play. I got a fastball, I think it was middle, middle-in and I was just able to get it out of there.”
The big hit came on a fastball after Smoak faced four consecutive curves from Robertson. The 31-year-old switch hitter exhibited tremendous discipline at the plate. “(Robertson) is one of the best in the game, so you know it’s going to be a tough at-bat,” Smoak said. “You just try to battle and battle and battle, and I was able to get a good swing on it.
“I knew I got that one.”
The Jays can talk all they want about it being four games early in the season, but earning a split in the opening series against the Yankees holds some significance for a team that started 1-9 last season and never made it back to the .500 mark.
“It’s a long season, six months, but it’s always good to get off to a good start,” Gibbons said.
“I think it’s big. We got a nice one (Saturday) and to come back today after being down is huge. “There’s nights you’ve got to slug it out (in this division) and that’s what we did.”
That offence has been a work in progress. The team was three for 11 with runners in scoring position and they did strike out 12 times.
“It’s a really good team over there and they beat us pretty good the first two games,” Smoak said. “To come back and win the last two and get a split, I think it means a lot.”
Marcus Stroman’s season debut was humming along rather nicely through the first 11 batters he faced.
The Jays right-hander had struck out six and his team was up 1-0. He was delivering the type of performance he expects of himself.
Then the Yankees happened. Pitching around Giancarlo Stanton in the third, Stroman lost the slugger to a walk and then surrendered a double to Didi Gregorius, a single to Neil Walker and a hanging slider two-run homer to Brandon Drury. Suddenly a 1-0 Toronto lead was a 4-1 deficit.
But Stroman, who had his spring training interrupted by inflammation in his shoulder, thought he gained enough from the start.
“I’m really happy with the way my arm has progressed,” said Stroman, who struck out eight in his five innings of work.
“I felt strong. My stuff is where it needs to be. I think I just made some bad pitches in certain counts.
“The 0-2 to Drury, I went back and looked at the film, it was probably one of the worst sliders I threw in my life.”
With closer Roberto Osuna having pitched the two previous days, Gibbons went to newcomer Sueng Hwan Oh for the ninth. The South Korean reliever allowed just one hit as he earned his first save with his new team.
Youcan’tdoany better than he did today: the game on the line ... against one of the top relievers in baseball … He’s really coming into his own.