THE HIGH FIVE
The moments that led to the Jays’ opening-day win
1 Donaldson’s first at-bat
In his first at-bat of the season, Josh Donaldson displayed a tone-setting, MVP-calibre piece of hitting against Chris Archer. The Rays’ ace possesses arguably the best slider in baseball and Donaldson fell prey to it early in the count, swinging through the pitch for his first strike and fouling off another for his second. With the count full Archer came back with another slider, but this time Donaldson fought it off into right field for a single. The at-bat seemed to unsettle Archer and it paved the way for a two-run opening frame for the Jays, who forced Archer to throw 34 pitches.
2 Colabello’s glove work
Chris Colabello went 0-for-4 on Sunday with three strikeouts, but he aided his team’s effort with some fine glove work in the early going. The Jays’ first baseman made a diving snag on a grounder from Corey Dickerson to preserve the two-run lead in the first. In the next inning he needed replay review to prove he tagged first base in time to get Kevin Kiermaier, who niftily dodged his initial tag. Both outs proved crucial.
3 Stroman sharp
Marcus Stroman was remarkably efficient in his first openingday start. He used his sinking, twoseam fastball to induce weak and early contact from the aggressive Rays’ hitters, who made first-pitch outs on seven occasions. He also attacked the strike zone, throwing 74 of his 98 pitches for strikes and issuing just one walk. Fourteen of his 24 outs came on ground balls, helping to keep his pitch count low.
4 Martin bails out Bautista
Perhaps Stroman’s penchant for drawing ground ball after ground ball from opposing hitters had Jose Bautista dozing in the fourth inning when Kiermaier sent a routine fly in his direction. The ball clanked off Bautista’s glove in what should have been an inning-ending out. Fortunately for the Jays, Russell Martin — who last season led the American League in caught-stealing percentage — threw out Kiermaier in an inexplicable attempt to swipe third.
5 Tulo for two
Troy Tulowitzki looked great in his first spring training with the Blue Jays, tying for the team lead in Grapefruit League home runs. He continued to show off his power stroke on Sunday, taking Rays reliever Ryan Webb deep with a tworun shot in the eighth inning. At the time it looked like mere run-padding, but with the Rays rallying for a pair in the ninth, Tulo’s blast proved to be the difference-maker.