Blue Jays earn first win for Montoyo
Shoemaker sparkles on the mound, bats come to life in romp over Tigers
With a young and ambitious TORONTO group of players and coaches, it will be a season full of firsts for the rebuilding Toronto Blue Jays. Two big firsts arrived on Friday night at the Rogers Centre in a 6-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers, their first of the season. Start with the always-smiling Charlie Montoyo, who earned his first win as a big-league manager thanks to some welcome offence and an excellent outing from starter Matt Shoemaker. In his first outing of six innings or more since June 2017, the off-season free agent signee was excellent throughout, limiting the Tigers to just two hits through seven complete while striking out seven. While some questioned the Shoemaker signing back in late December, given that he was coming off a lengthy stint on the DL with a forearm injury for much of last season with the Angels, the 32-year-old right-hander never doubted himself. He cruised through his first three innings before allowing a one-out double to Nicholas Castellanos in the fourth. Shoemaker kept the Tigers off balance all night and was backed by a solid defensive effort by the Jays for a second consecutive game. When the Jays hadn’t managed a run through the first three innings, they set a club record for early offensive woes in a season, going their first 13 frames without getting a run across. That all changed in a big fourrun fourth, however, a mini scoring spree that began with a single by Teoscar Hernandez. Then, with the bases loaded, smooth-fielding shortstop Freddy Galvis showed some prowess with the bat, driving in three with a bases-loaded single to centre. The Jays kept rolling, scoring two more on a single by Justin Smoak in the seventh. The win evened the Jays’ record at 1-1 on this seven-game season-opening homestand that continues with games against the Tigers on Saturday and Sunday. The 53-year-old Montoyo, brought in as John Gibbons’ replacement to be the team’s 13th manager, got the kind of effort he stressed through spring training. The team has received outstanding starting pitching with Shoemaker and Marcus Stroman, each going seven complete, and the defence in front of them has been solid. “I loved it,” Montoyo said. “Pitching and defence.” While it was an impressive effort, the win was achieved before a small crowd of 18,054 at Rogers Centre.