Donaldson raises the roof in opener
Two homers, five RBIs start Red Sox series with a bang in first open-dome date
On a hot and humid night in the city, with the roof open for the first time this season and a feeling reminiscent of last year’s late-summer surge up the standings, it seemed only fitting that Josh Donaldson would deliver a performance that recalled his MVP vintage.
The Blue Jays’ dynamic third baseman collected four hits, including a pair of homers, while driving in a season-high five runs as the Jays opened their series against the Boston Red Sox with a 7-5 victory on Friday night in front of a near-sellout crowd.
All four of Donaldson’s hits scored go-ahead runs, as he repeatedly took his teammates off the hook for a slew of defensive blunders that had allowed the Red Sox to tie the game on three occasions. He also started a key double play to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning.
“He’s a special player,” manager John Gibbons said afterward.
Last season it was easy to take Donaldson’s game-breaking play for granted. He was so often the difference maker it seemed simply a matter of course that he would come through on most nights.
But just as the Jays — particularly their vaunted offence — have as yet failed to recapture the propulsive energy that lifted them to the top of the standings last season, Donaldson likewise hasn’t as often been the force he was for so much of last year.
Not that he has been a slouch. He had 11 homers entering Friday’s contest and he has still been a productive hitter. But he’s the first to admit he hasn’t felt like himself.
“I haven’t felt right all year, honestly,” he said after Friday’s game. “I’ve been kind of grinding and trying to get there, trying to get there, and maybe at some points trying to do too much at times.”
He said he has been searching for his groove all season, and a couple of days ago something clicked. He start- ed to feel more comfortable in the batter’s box, which is a good sign for the Jays, who are hoping to improve on their middling start to the season.
With Friday’s win the Jays sit at .500 as they continue to claw back on their division rivals in the midst of this 12-game stretch solely against the Red Sox and Yankees.
The Jays were without the services of Jose Bautista after he lost the appeal of his one-game suspension stemming from the May 15 brawl with the Texas Rangers.
Bautista, who was suspended both for his hard slide into Rangers’ second baseman Rougned Odor and his post-game comments, said Major League Baseball’s decision to uphold the penalty was “unfounded” and “unfair,” and he called upon the league to explain itself publicly.
“I think they owe it to the fans who pay a lot of money to come watch me play and give them the specific reason why I’m not playing today,” Bautista said before Friday’s game.
Bautista, who was punched in the face by Odor, which set off the dugout-clearing melee in Texas, refused to share the rationale he was given for the decision. The league, meanwhile, does not publicize its reasoning and did not directly answer a request from the Star on Friday for a more detailed explanation.
Odor, meanwhile, successfully reduced his suspension on appeal from eight to seven games.
“Apparently he either has friends in high places or that organization does,” Bautista said. “Or he did a really good job of convincing them . . . of something.”