This is the Stripling fans were hoping to see
The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 8-4 win in Atlanta on Thursday:
It looked like it was going to be a short day at the office for Blue Jays starter Ross Stripling as he struggled through the first inning.
Ronald Acuna Jr. belted his first pitch of the day 442 feet to left field for his major-leagueleading 12th home run of the season, and Stripling gave up singles to three of the next four hitters, resulting in another Atlanta run and a 2-0 deficit five batters into the game. There were runners at second and third with only one out; the game was threatening to go off the rails in a big hurry.
That was where Stripling absolutely shut things down. He struck out Dansby Swanson and Jeff Mathis to escape the inning, and the Stripling who pitched the next four innings was unrecognizable from the one who started the game.
He faced one batter over the minimum in the next four innings, allowing only a walk to Ozzie Albies. He struck out seven of the 13 batters to come to the plate and allowed only two balls to be hit out of the infield.
It wound up being Stripling’s best outing as a Jay, although he didn’t get the win because of a sixth-inning blown save by Tim Mayza, only the second blown save of the season for the heavily worked bullpen.
Stripling hasn’t made the best first impression on Jays fans, posting a 6.47 ERA in nine appearances with the team over last September and the early part of this season, but the right-hander had a 3.51 ERA and 1.196 WHIP over 136 major-league appearances in his first four seasons with the Dodgers. He’s a much better pitcher than he’s shown as a Jay, and we finally saw it six batters into Thursday’s outing. á Now this is a story: Atlanta went to closer Will Smith to start the ninth, with the score tied 4-4. The home team can’t have a save situation at that point, so there was no reason to hold the closer back, especially with Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. due to bat second, third and fourth in the inning.
Sometimes the right move doesn’t work, though. The Jays jumped all over Smith from the get-go, scoring four runs on five hits. It started with a Danny Jansen ground ball through the hole between third and short to get his batting average back onto the interstate (in the .100s). Semien followed with a soft liner to left that dropped in for a hit and Bichette rocketed a first-pitch double to the gap in right-centre.
It took the Jays just nine pitches to turn a one-run deficit into to a one-run lead. á Coming up Cavan: Cavan Biggio spent the first five weeks struggling to get going, but he seems to be back to his old self, and maybe it was home cooking that did it.
Knowing that he had a flight home to Houston, Biggio had three hits in the Blue Jays’ final game in Oakland last Thursday. He homered at Minute Maid Park the next night and has been on a roll ever since.
The 26-year-old had a pair of doubles, both off left-handers, and a pair of walks in the finale against the Braves and has hit .333 with a .500 on-base percentage over his past seven games.
He has raised his OPS by more than 100 points over that span.