Spotlight on Pillar despite defeat

Marco Estrada was on the ropes in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Blue Jays’ typically steadfast righty had just walked Rickie Weeks Jr. and then gave up a long home run to Yasmany Tomas.

The Jays were down 3-0 and it looked like things were about to get worse when the next batter, Diamondbacks outfielder Peter O’Brien, sent a rocket to straightaway centre field.

The speed of the ball off the bat was tracked at 102 m.p.h. and was headed for the top of the centre-field wall. Batted balls of a similar profile land for hits more than 80 per cent of the time, according to MLB’s Statcast data.

But with Kevin Pillar patrolling the outfield, no hit is ever a sure thing. A split-second after the ball jumped off the bat, Pillar was already sprinting towards the wall, reaching a top speed of 17 m.p.h. — again, according to Statcast, which calculated Pillar’s route efficiency at a near-perfect, 97.8 per cent.

What MLB’s newfangled player-tracking technology cannot measure, however, are the sheer guts it took Pillar to essentially disregard the existence of the wall he must have known he would hit in order to make the catch.

Running full tilt, Pillar leapt up, made the catch and — as was unavoidable at this point — came to terms with the existence of said wall, slamming hard into it before crumpling to the ground.

The catch was less flashy than the headlong diving grabs that have earned him his Superman nickname. But this one may have been among his most difficult, when you think of the combination of speed, timing and reckless abandon required.

“The toughest play for any outfielder, especially in centre field, is the ball hit right at you, somewhat low,” Pillar said afterward. “But in the moment it’s about going to get the ball and whatever happens after happens.”

Pillar’s efforts put the Jays in a better position, but it wasn’t enough as they still fell 4-2 to the visiting DBacks to lose their third straight.

Despite not pitching well enough to win, Estrada set a major-league record with his11th consecutive start of at least six innings and five or fewer hits allowed.