Bringing you the plays of the Zeke
Fourth outfielder Carrera sparks Blue Jays with four-hit day from leadoff spot
The impression Ezequiel Carrera’s career day at the plate Saturday left with manager John Gibbons will last longer than one day.
“He’ll be back in there (Sunday), I guarantee you that,” Gibbons promised after the seldom-used, high-energy outfielder rapped out four hits in the Jays’ 9-3 win over the Oakland A’s.
While the four-hit day, which came three runs scored and a pair of highlight-reel catches in left field, was memorable, it’s the chance to play some consecutive games that carries the most meaning for Carrera.
The 28-year-old Venezuelan is a fourth outfielder, a role player who comes off the bench once a week — maybe twice when injuries pile up — and tries to make sure the team doesn’t miss a beat.
So there was Carrera on Saturday, plunked into the lineup for a second straight game to replace Michael Saunders, who is nursing a sore hamstring muscle. Gibbons liked what he saw from Carrera, as did the crowd of 46,344, who gave him a standing ovation in the ninth, after he landed his second, flat-out diving catch of the game.
“It was one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life,” Carrera said through an interpreter in the postgame clubhouse.
Carrera, who has played in 274 games over six major-league seasons, left his feet for a similar catch while with Detroit two seasons ago. Tigers fans gave him a rousing ovation, the only other time he’s heard that kind of roar from the crowd in his career.
Gibbons took note as well; those all-out plays that help teams win games stick in the minds of managers, and are the currency by which role players like Carrera earn a living.
“The best thing to do is be focused and be ready for the game every time,” Carrera said, sounding like an NHL fourth-liner.
The five-foot-11, 185-pound outfielder appeared in 91games with the Jays in 2015, 23 more games than in any other season in his big-league career. He is usually summoned for defensive and base running purposes. But Saturday marked the second straight day he filled in for Saunders atop the Jays’ batting order, where the leadoff role has been in flux.
“When our main guys up top are doing well, it makes it so much easier for us,” said Josh Donaldson, who had three hits, including a secondinning home run, and drove in Carrera twice.
“And it didn’t stop there; he made some great defensive plays, which were nice to have.”
Carrera follows an unwritten code of a role-bench player — keeping a low profile verbally and never complaining about his role.
On Saturday, he stood out like the star players who batted behind him in the order. It was a deserved reward, but one that Carrera knows can fade as soon as Monday, when Saunders likely returns to the lineup.
“I just want to do the job the manager asks me to do when he puts me in the lineup,” Carrera said.