Shooting blanks. DiManno,
CLEVELAND— A don’t-name-them team, as the ultra-pious would have it. With a disgraceful won’t-name-it mascot, as the ultra-disapproving would have it. And a decimated can’t-name-’em starting rotation, as the ultra-skeptical would have it.
Really, given all the strikes against them — baseball-wise, culture-wise, ethics-wise — it’s a wonder the Cleveland Indians are even permitted to contest for a pennant, much less prance off the field with a 2-0 win over the Jays in Game 1 Friday night.
Except the tut-tutting is generally from afar, at the moment gusting southwest from some of the most sanctimonious blow-hard corners of Toronto, newspaper editorial boards and human rights commission and the like. ’Round these parts, the locals really don’t give a toss. They love their Indians and their Chief (Bleep-Bleep) and their Tribe Nation. So they whoop-whooped and banged that (culturally appropriated) aboriginal drum through inning after inning of scoreless ball on Friday night, delighted that no runs up on the honking huge scoreboard above Progressive Field meant that at least they weren’t trailing the re-potent and re-petrifying Blue Jays, who arrived at Game 1 of the American League Championship Series having outscored the opposition 27-12 in their four previous games, with a 10-spot of jacks punctuating that tabulation.
Cleveland was down to its last legitimate starter, Corey Kubler, with a career ERA well over 5.00 against Toronto. Two of his colleagues, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, are out for the season with a broken hand bone and a forearm strain respectively, while the current No. 2, Trevor Bauer, has been pushed back in the assignment order on account of he ripped open his pinky finger whilst fiddling around with a drone.
And before you laugh, remember that Toronto catcher Russell Martin likewise took pinky stitches last week, an owie suffered during the wild-card win celebrations.
Nicely mixing up his pitches Friday and striking out half a dozen Jays in the process, Kubler kept the Jays well at bay through the six innings he posted for Cleveland, restricting Toronto to six hits and two walks, which might have been enough to scratch out a run or two from the Jays of just a week ago. Instead, Toronto stranded a pair in each of the first, second, third and fifth frames.
Not a single Jay would admit to approaching this series with less wariness than they had the AL-leading Rangers. Certainly they had good reason to feel confident launching this series with Marco Estrada on the mound — their goto-guy in the last two post-seasons for when wins are needed. In a rotation quintet — or sextet, when Francisco Liriano is included — where every member could legitimately lay claim to the “ace” label, and indeed they’re all quite proud of the co-co-co-co-co-starring cast, Estrada is an honest No. 1.
Manager John Gibbons liked the idea of designating Estrada as first starter out there because he believes opponents in general, the Indians in particular, have problems squaring up to Estrada’s pitches, as he mixes in that devastating changeup — which every batter is expecting and yet just about every batter is caught flat-footed and whiffing — with a cutter, curveball and high 80s (but not that high) fastball.
With Estrada on the bump, the Jays won Game 1 against Texas in the AL Division Series, the righthander taking a no-hitter into the ninth frame before allowing a leadoff double, finishing up with 81⁄
3 innings of four-hit ball. He’s allowed just seven hits and two runs over his last two post-season starts. So you can see why the Toronto side liked their odds for Game 1, against a squad which has rather quietly endured to emerge as one among just four teams left standing, after dumping Boston three straight.
The Indians might rightly owe the Jays a vote of thanks. Because Toronto took two of three off the Red Sox to end the regular season, Central Division-leading Cleveland ended up with the home-field advantage for these first two series.
“We’re starting to get hot at the right time,” Estrada had said the other day. “The best team doesn’t always win. But I think the hottest team is usually the one that takes it all.”
Well, it’s way too early to talk about taking it all or taking a series. Estrada, however, provided his team with more than adequate pitching, had they only managed to construct a run or two around his efforts off the hill. Toronto had ample opportunity to strike early, especially through the first four innings.
Meanwhile, Estrada was doing a competent job of turning back the Indians — a leadoff bunt single in the first inning erased on a doubleplay, followed by three ground ball outs. He was economic and efficient with just 35 pitches, 23 for strikes, through the first two frames.
Cleveland got to him in the sixth, though: Estrada walked Jason Kipnis, then delivered a juicy 0-2 changeup at the knees that Francisco Lindor swatted over the centrefield wall.
It wasn’t the first time in the postseason that Toronto has trailed in a game but this one felt more definitive, more lasting.
Kluber departed after six innings, having done his job more than adequately — 100 pitches thrown, 71 for strikes, and no damage done, repeatedly wiggling his way out of early-inning jams.
Yet even on his way to a playoff loss, Estrada managed to do his team one huge favour. For this first time as a Jay, for the first time ever actually, the 32-year-old unspooled a complete-game performance.
That spared an overtaxed bullpen, though surely it’s well-rested now, after four days off in the post-season labours. But Estrada deserved a better outcome from his shooting-blanks ’mates.