Braves make Jays pay
Two more runs eventually scored, the second unearned on the bad relay.
“I didn’t charge the ball as well as I could have,” Pompey continued. “It’s a learning experience for me but unfortunately it’s one of those where I feel like I cost the team a chance to stay in the game. I know most of the guys know how I feel and I’m sorry, but I can only do what I can do now moving forward. That’s what I’m going to do — focus on being a better player and a better person and better teammate.”
Whoa there, young fella. It’s only Game 12, salad days of a long season. And the Jays batters — purportedly the team’s strongest suit, all that muscle at the plate — were equally culpable for the outcome, managing only two runs on five hits off starter Shelby Miller through six, and nothing doing with the Atlanta bullpen.
A rough outing for Norris, who lasted just 22⁄ innings in his third
3 start, again struggling with location on his fastball, merely 33 strikes on 66 pitches.
But now we have an explanation for it, for why Norris has looked so drastically different from how he threw in Florida. There’s something mechanically askew which apparently accounts for consistently missing high.
“I’m just trying to over-compensate, going through a bit of a deadarm phase. So it’s really tough for me to feel it — that late life that I was used to at spring training. Even if I throw one that says 93 or 94, it just doesn’t have the same life on it. And I can’t really command it the way I’m used to.”
Dead arm, two weeks into the season. Now that’s scary.
No, no, 21-year-old Norris assures. “This happens to everybody. It’s happened numerous times in my life, so it’s just a matter of getting through it. Off the field I’m doing everything I can to try and expedite that process.”
Since those exhibition games in Montreal, Norris has been contending with this issue, we now discover. No pain but no comfort zone either. “I should be at the tail end of it. I’m hoping so.”
If the Jays decide Norris needs rest, that will throw the entire rotation out of whack. Marco Estrada can certainly make a spot start if necessary. He struck out two in 1.1 innings of early relief before giving way to Jeff Francis and Roberto Osuna — a good day’s work for the ’pen.
“Francis kept us in the game,” noted Gibbons of the Canadian’s 31⁄
3 innings of two-hit ball. “He really saved our bullpen. We were pretty short down there, so that was big.”
An all-Canadian battery, by the way, with Russell Martin catching.
And the Jays did dodge an injury bullet of consequence when Devon Travis left the game after being hit in the ribs by a pitch to lead off the third. The second baseman has been glittery defensively and offensively over the past fortnight, leading both leagues among rookies in average, hits, RBIs and home runs.
Taking his lead with Jose Bautista at the plate, Travis had to dive headfirst back to the bag on a pickoff move and came up wincing. Steve Tolleson came in as replacement runner. Fortunately, it was announced Travis had suffered only a rib bruise, nothing cracked — unlike Jose Reyes, who’s expected back Tuesday, the team with a day off Monday.
Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion scored on a two-run double to the wall by Martin in the sixth.
Those are among the bats that need to get hot, Encarnacion — 2-for-25 in this homestand until his single — especially.
It’s not the rookies, for all their greenness, who will make or break the team, even if they blunder at times.
“We’ve told you there’s going to be games like that,” said Gibbons, as the youngsters cut their teeth in the majors.
“That’s part of establishing yourself in the big leagues. They’re here for a reason. We like them. They’re all very talented. It’s one of those deals — when it clicks and they gain that little extra confidence. They believe, ‘hey, I can survive this even when I’m not at my best.’ That’s when you have something.
“That can take a little bit of time. If you’re going to commit to them, you better be able to live with them.”
Pause. “A little bit anyway.”