Bats do damage for Jays
Bautista unleashes a grand slam, Donaldson, Encarnacion also homer
If the stars align, the Blue Jays may welcome back a familiar figure to bolster their bullpen for the final weeks of the season.
Before Wednesday night’s 9-7 win over the Minnesota Twins, manager John Gibbons volunteered the surprising news that Marcus Stroman, last season’s rookie sensation and current Duke University student, is scheduled to start throwing off a mound next Wednesday.
If all goes well, Stroman could begin a minor-league rehab assignment on Aug. 21, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said.
With no setbacks, Stroman could pitch four or five relief stints and join the Jays’ bullpen early in September.
Meanwhile, the current bullpen staff was a key contributor to Wednesday’s win, even though the Jays scored all of their runs on three prodigious homers — a grand slam by Jose Bautista, a three-run shot by Edwin Encarnacion and a tworun blast by Josh Donaldson, who homered in his third straight game.
The Jays led 9-3 after four, but beleaguered Drew Hutchison gave up four runs — all unearned, owing to Donaldson’s error — in the fifth. Liam Hendriks, Brett Cecil, Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins blanked the Twins the rest of the way.
Donaldson’s miscue notwithstanding, the Twins hit Hutchison hard that inning. He also gave up three runs in the first, but wound up posting his 10th win, to go with only two losses — and a 5.42 ERA.
A crowd of 27,725 watched Toronto’s fourth straight win and seventh in the past eight games.
Stroman underwent what the club called season-ending surgery in March after he tore the ACL in his left knee. But from the beginning, the right-hander with the big smile set his sights on a September return.
He has followed a gruelling rehab regimen under the supervision of Duke’s medical and conditioning staff after returning to school to finish his degree. He also has been playing catch and long-toss on flat ground for several weeks.
“We don’t sit here and look at it like, ‘OK, he’s going to come to the rescue, save the day,’” Gibbons said. “It’s his goal. We’re on board if he can pull it off. But we’re not going to do anything stupid either.”
Gibbons said Stroman’s return is “still far-fetched.” But a few minutes after the manager’s daily media briefing, Anthopoulos told reporters about the Aug. 21 target date for Stroman to begin pitching in minorleague games.
Stroman was expected to be the Jays’ No. 1 starter, or something close to it, after going 10-6 with a 3.29 ERA in 20 starts last year.
Gibbons emphasized that if he pitches at all this year, it would be in relief, and that the club would take no chances with his health.
But to have the popular Stroman on the expanded September roster would give the team a lift, he said.
“I think it’d be good for him, good for us,” he said. “Guys love having him around.”
And, he added, “the fans would love it.”
The Blue Jays have won six of seven games since they traded for Troy Tulowitzki. A couple of days later David Price came in another trade, arriving to a locker full of popcorn. And the sudden buzz among fans is translating into booming business at the box office and merchandise counters, and for ticket resellers too.
TICKETS
Last Thursday, the day the Price trade was announced, the Jays sold 35,000 tickets. The next day they sold 29,000, said Stephen Brooks, the team’s vice-president of business operations. On an average home-game day, sales range from 3,500 to 5,000, Brooks said.
During the past few days, and particularly on the weekend, “our daily sales volumes (tickets we sell on a day-to-day to basis for all future games) were more than quadruple what we normally sell,” Jason Diplock, the Jays’ vice-president of ticket sales and service, said in an email. He declined to give specific figures, citing club policy.
MERCHANDISE
During the weekend, the Jays sold a combined 1,400 jerseys and T-shirts emblazoned with the names of either Tulowitzki or Price. That figure excludes online sales, “which experienced double the normal volume of (weekend) sales,” said Anthony Partipilo, VP of marketing and merchandising.
“The past few days our overall sales have been up over 40 per cent,” Partipilo said in an email.
ATTENDANCE
Including Tuesday night’s crowd of 27,060, the Jays have drawn an average of 34,635 to the seven games since Tulowitzki took over for Jose Reyes at shortstop. Average attendance this season is 29,481.
They had two sellouts of more than 45,700 on Sunday and Monday.
Those turnouts, however, were not the biggest of the season. Opening night on April 13 drew 48,414, and consecutive games against Baltimore, an archrival in the division, on June 21-22 drew just over 46,000 each.
Tuesday night’s crowd pushed the Jays’ season home attendance over the 1.6-million mark for 55 games. That’s an increase of about 43,000 over the 55-game mark last year.
All attendance figures represent tickets sold, not turnstile counts.
The numbers available do not measure the noise level in the Rogers Centre since Alex Anthopoulos swung those two eye-popping trades. Both Price and Tulowitzki have been impressed.
Price said Monday’s crowd created “the best atmosphere I’ve ever been in.” After Tuesday night’s 3-1 win over Minnesota, Tulowitzki echoed that sentiment.