Blue Jays beat Twins in their frosty backyard
Jays prevail in chilly temps as Kawasaki sparks big inning, Lawrie clubs late grand slam
MINNEAPOLIS— There’s no way around it: Jose Bautista looked like a crazy person as he prepared to take the field here on Tuesday afternoon. Not that you could tell it was him, his face obscured by a thermal balaclava, wrapped in the hood of his sweatshirt and topped with a Blue Jays’ pom-pom toque.
“Wait, I need gloves,” he said, voice muffled, as he ran back into the clubhouse to snag some mitts before heading out to stretch.
By game time, with the sun all but gone, it was even colder. Temperatures hovered just a couple degrees above freezing as the Blue Jays, looking like a posse of ninja henchmen, prepared to take on the Minnesota Twins.
Whether it was the inhospitable cold or their funky attempts to guard against it, the Jays looked completely out of their element in the early stages of Tuesday night.
Bautista, playing centre field with Colby Rasmus resting a tight hamstring, looked like he was playing the outfield for the first time in his life, misjudging bounces off the wall and misplaying hits in front of him. Moises Sierra, meanwhile, was his calamitous self as he manned Bautista’s usual right field.
Jays starter Brandon Morrow also seemed to suffer under the weather, as he laboured through a 30-pitch first inning and never looked comfortable. Morrow battled his command all night and lasted just 32⁄
3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and four walks. To his credit, he earned a big punchout against his final batter — with one out and a runner on third — and, with help from reliever Aaron Loup, never let the game get out of hand.
But the Jays’ offence looked entirely flummoxed by Twins starter Phil Hughes through the first five innings and, though they were only down by two, it looked like it would be one of those nights for the visitors.
That was until the sixth inning, when Munenori Kawasaki — in his first game of the season after being called up to replace Maicer Izturis — kicked off a five-run rally by slapping a lead-off double down the left-field line. Thus stirred — or perhaps just better tuned to Hughes their third time facing him — the Jays added four consecutive hits, driving Hughes from the game. When the inning was over the Jays had batted around and taken a 5-2 lead, which they added to in the ninth when Brett Lawrie hit his sec- ond career grand slam. The Twins answered with a homer of their own in the final frame, but by then it was a rout. Before the game, manager John Gibbons spoke presciently of Kawasaki’s return to the lineup. “On a cold night he’ll definitely warm it up,” he said. “Hopefully with his bat.” Kawasaki, Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Ryan Goins all enjoyed multi-hit nights on Tuesday as the Jays put up double-digit hits for the second game in a row and just the third time this year. While Gibbons said Rasmus “should be good to go” on Wednesday, Adam Lind left Tuesday’s game with lower-back tightness.
A bigger concern for the Jays may be their other roster logjams, beginning with the return of J.A. Happ.
The 6-foot-6 left-hander, who started the season on the disabled list with a back strain after struggling through a disastrous spring training, rejoined the club Tuesday and will pitch out of the bullpen for the time being.
Happ, a starter through most of his career, has dealt with the frustration of being the odd man out of the rotation before. But those previous experiences haven’t warmed him any to the reduced role.
“I see myself as a starter, I don’t think that’s any secret,” he said. “I want to be a starter in the major leagues, so yeah, that’s that.”
Trouble is, until injury or underperformance knocks one of the current starting five out of the rotation, Happ’s on the outside looking in.
“It’s not ideal, it’s not where he wants to be, but that’s where he fits right now,” Gibbons said.
Also on Tuesday, Jose Reyes and Casey Janssen, both currently on the disabled list, played a rehab game in Class-A Dunedin. Janssen pitched one scoreless inning, while Reyes went 0-for-3 with a walk.
Reyes, who’s dealing with a strained left hamstring, is scheduled to play again in Dunedin on Wednesday and, barring a setback, will rejoin the Jays on Friday in Cleveland.