Stroman dominant against D-Backs
REBOUND PERFORMANCE: Jays starter’s eight strong innings erase memories of recent rough outing in Oakland Ken Fidlin
After stumbling out of the gate after the all-star break, the Toronto Blue Jays — and most importantly, Marcus Stroman — have flipped the switch.
The Jays (54-42) are headed back to Toronto from this five-game road trip on a modest three-game win streak to start a nine-game homestand, playing the same type of quality baseball that they displayed in winning eight of their final nine games before the break.
The best part of Wednesday afternoon’s 10-4 demolition of the Arizona Diamondbacks was not the 13-hit, two-homer performance by the offence. No, the most impressive aspect was Stroman’s dominance.
Stroman appeared to have overcome his early season inconsistency in his final two starts before the break, but regressed badly in his first second-half appearance last Friday in Oakland, unable to get out of the fifth inning.
Wednesday, he was thoroughly in control, tossing eight full innings, and appeared to have plenty in the tank had manager John Gibbons allowed him to go back out to get the complete game. He gave up a run on eight hits, all singles, maintaining impeccable control and command by not walking a batter.
His 14 ground ball outs were a testament to his ability to keep the ball down in the strike zone. He struck out six and needed only three fly ball outs. In all, he threw 99 pitches.
“He was really good,” said Gibbons. “He was on a nice little roll. Everybody wanted to hang themselves after that night in Oakland, but you know what? It’s a tough level of baseball. Nobody is going to be good every night out. That’s just the way it is. He’s a big part of who we are. Today it was on both sides of the ball. With the bat, he laid down a nice sac bunt, he ran the bases.”
Stroman just shrugged when asked to compare his Oakland start with this one.
“I can’t really weigh in much on previous starts,” he said. “I truly do wash them the next day and move forward. I didn’t command the ball as well in Oakland and my spinning pitches were left more middle. I had better action on my pitches today.”
He also pointed out that the difference between a good start and a bad one can be the finest of lines.
“It’s not that much,” he said. “It’s baseball. On certain days, things can fall your way and on other days they can’t. I know when I’m going well and I can tell by the ground balls in the holes that I’m getting beat. It’s a matter of staying with my strengths and the things that have gotten me here.
“I pitch aggressively in the zone because I have unbelievable confidence in the guys behind me to get the job done. That’s my mentality. If I get the ball on the ground, Donaldson, Tulo, Travis, Smoaky or Edwin are going to do whatever is in their power to turn it.”
Reliever Brett Cecil did not exactly cover himself in glory. He was summoned to mop up the ninth and gave up three hits and as many runs on Tuffy Gosewisch’s three-run home run. Joe Biagini was called on to get the final two outs.
Meanwhile, Edwin Encarnacion continued to torment the Diamondbacks, smashing his ninth home run in eight games as a Blue Jay at Chase Field. This one was a monster 471foot, two-run blast, his 26th of the season, that delivered the game’s final two runs.
Before that, Josh Donaldson had belted his 24th homer of the season, accounting for two of his three RBIs. Darwin Barney, installed as the left fielder and leadoff man for this game, also drove in three runs with a triple, single and sacrifice fly and made two fine catches in the outfield. Devon Travis had three hits and scored three runs.
“We did well today and the last two days we executed,” said Donaldson, who missed a second home run by a matter of inches on a shot some 420 feet to centre field.
“We got some timely hits, pitched well and played good defence. We were able to keep the pressure on through the entire game.
“Early on (in the road trip), some guys had a few days off and we were trying to get back in the flow of things. We didn’t play bad in Oakland. They won two, but we didn’t hand them to them. It’s nice to finish strong here and we have a nice homestand ahead of us.”