Jays beat Rays in season opener,
Marcus Stroman sets the tone for the Jays’ year with a pitching gem in season opener
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.— It didn’t take long for the Blue Jays to pick up where they left off.
In the first game of this new season, they exhibited many of the same characteristics that made them such a powerhouse in the second half of 2015.
It started, of course, with their veteran-laden lineup — baseball’s highest-scoring by a mile last year — which took an early lead by grinding patient at-bats against one of the game’s best pitchers.
Then there was Marcus Stroman, the team’s budding ace, who worked with remarkable efficiency and elicited more than a dozen ground balls, while the infield defence, save for a rare gaffe by Ryan Goins, gobbled them all up.
And in the end it was a two-run homer that secured the win.
So in many ways, Sunday’s season-opening, 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays was a familiar one for the Jays.
“You’ve seen it,” said shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, whose two-run blast in the eighth inning proved to be the difference after the Rays rallied late. “Offensively (we’re) one of the best; defensively, we can play some defence, too; and we had good pitching. That’s definitely the recipe.”
He wasn’t counting his fingers as he said it, but he may as well have been.
Expectations are as high as they have ever been for the Jays this year after coming two games shy of reaching the World Series less than six months ago. Sunday’s game, while just one of 162, showed all the elements they will need to defend their division title and outpace last season’s playoff performance.
“I feel like we can win games in so many different ways,” said Stroman, who took a 5-1lead into the ninth inning before giving up a solo homer to Corey Dickerson and a subsequent single. “I feel like we’re a very high-powered offence, we have a great defence, so I feel like we’re capable of winning games in a multitude of ways.”
The tone was set early on Sunday as the heart of the Jays’ order made life difficult for Chris Archer, the Rays’ ace, who was tagged for two runs in the opening frame and needed 34 pitches to get through the inning.
“When Stro takes the mound, it’s different. He raises the bar and makes you want to match his energy.” TROY TULOWITZKI BLUE JAYS SHORTSTOP
Archer eventually settled in — setting a Rays’ opening-day record with 12 strikeouts — but that rocky first augured an early exit. After five innings, he was already up over 100 pitches.
“Our guys know how to work pitchers and that plays a huge part in getting the starter out early in the game and getting to that bullpen,” said Stroman. “Working counts like that early on and building Archer’s pitches up gave us success later on in the game against that ’pen.”
The typically pull-happy Jays seemed to utilize a collective approach of taking Archer the other way with four of their five hits going to the opposite field or up the middle, including Edwin Encarnacion’s tworun single in the first and Kevin Pillar’s RBI single in the fourth.
The Rays, meanwhile, had little answer for Stroman, whose frugal approach to his pitches on Sunday stood in sharp contrast to Archer. Making his first opening-day start, Stroman needed just 98 pitches to get through his eight-plus innings, leaning on his worm-killing sinker to induce weak contact.
“He keeps me busy,” said Tulowitzki, who cleanly fielded half of Stroman’s 14 ground-ball outs on Sunday.
The Rays rallied for a pair in the ninth but sophomore closer Roberto Osuna eventually secured the final three outs.
But Stroman was the difference, and if you ask Tulowitzki, he gave the Jays an edge the moment he stepped on the mound. “When Stro takes the mound it’s different,” the shortstop said. “He raises the bar and makes you want to match his energy.”
Stroman has made plain his ambition to be the Jays’ ace, the kind of pitcher who looks to go nine innings every five days and to fill the void left by David Price. Tulowitzki, for one, is a believer.
“Every team needs that ace, because he stops losing streaks, extends winning streaks, that confidence goes up that day when he takes the mound,” he said. “Although it’s one start I think (Stroman) really wants to step into that role and be that guy.”