The walk-off magic wore off for the Jays in a 7-2 loss to the Angels, in the opener of a three-game set.
Shortstop sprains ankle on bang-bang play at first, ump show sequel averted
The Blue Jays lost a game and their shortstop on Friday night.
Playing in the series opener at Rogers Centre against the Angels, the Jays dropped a 7-2 decision that ended a modest four-game win streak. They also lost Troy Tulowitzki to a freak baserunning injury.
One loss seemed far more important than the other.
On the second anniversary of the trade that brought Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays from the Rockies, he raced down the first-base line, trying to beat out a ground ball up the middle, and rolled his right ankle badly when he hit the bag.
Second baseman Kaleb Cowart had ranged up the middle, turned and made an acrobatic jump throw back across his body. First baseman C.J. Cron took the throw and awkwardly sought the bag with his back foot, taking away half the landing area from Tulowitzki.
It was an ugly twist and an agonizing reaction.
Tulowitzki lay on his back, arms crossed in front of his face, just past the base as trainers tended to him. He was helped from the field directly into the clubhouse, unable to put any weight on the ankle. The stadium, with more than 39,000 people in attendance, went silent and remained so for the next few innings.
The early diagnosis for Tulowitzki was a sprained right ankle, with the severity to be determined on Saturday.
Recall that it was also against the Angels in Anaheim on April 21 that Tulowitzki injured himself as he ran from second to third and headed into a slide. He went on the disabled list with a strained hamstring and missed 31 games. In Cleveland a week ago, he tweaked his left groin and missed the final two games vs. the Indians.
It was a night of mixed results for Jays starter J.A. Happ. After throwing just 12 pitches in the first inning, last year’s 20-game winner was forced to throw 45 pitches in the second, when the Angels scored two runs and sent eight batters to the plate.
After Happ issued a bases-loaded, two-out, full-count walk to Mike Trout, he started for the dugout thinking he struck him out. Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez stepped out and stared Happ down. The soft-spoken left-hander then walked slowly towards the plate with his glove over his mouth. After the previous day’s circus with umpire Will Little, catcher Russell Martin effectively talked Hernandez out of doing something dumb.
Following the third out of the second, Happ walked toward Hernandez and had a 30-second discussion to settle the choppy waters.
That Happ was able to battle his way through six innings after a pitchsapping second frame is a credit to the 34-year-old southpaw.
In one inning, he threw 45 pitches. In the other five, he needed just 52 offerings in total.
The third run scored as the result of an infield hit on which Happ shot his hand up and deflected what would have been a double-play ball away from shortstop Ryan Goins.
The Angels added four runs against the bullpen.
The Jays scored their runs with Jose Bautista ripping a ground-rule double to left field in the eighth, and Justin Smoak’s 29th homer of the season in the ninth.
Angels rookie right-hander Parker Bridwell pitched 71⁄ innings, allow
3 ing just three hits. The Angels are 7-1 in his eight starts.