Adjustments add up to win
Blue Jays didn’t need earth-shaking offence to spoil the Yankees’ home opener
The Blue Jays didn’t ease any concerns about their struggling offence on Friday. But behind some tremendous pitching, the bats (or at least one bat) did enough to spoil the New York Yankees’ home opener.
Ernie Clement came off the bench to lead off the seventh inning and blasted a Caleb Ferguson fastball 407 feet to left field for his first home run of the season. It was the only RBI in a 3-0 Jays win that evened their record at 4-4. The other two runs scored on ninth-inning wild pitches by right-hander Nick Burdi.
It was the first game the Jays had played outdoors this season, and after a morning earthquake they took the field in single-digit temperatures. A tough day to hit against a tough pitcher in former Jay Marcus Stroman, a Long Island native who was making his Yankee Stadium debut in pinstripes.
That said, it feels like every day has been a tough one to hit for these Jays, who arrived in New York City after a three-game series in Houston in which they set franchise records for futility by batting .106 with just nine hits. They also became the first team to be on the wrong side of both a no-hitter and a one-hitter over the first seven games of an MLB season.
The bottom of the lineup was shaken up Friday. Daulton Varsho, off to a 3-for-21 start, was dropped from the five spot to eighth. Alejandro Kirk, just 2-for-21 heading into the game, went from sixth to seventh. And Cavan Biggio moved from ninth to sixth, owing to a .333 on-base-percentage that was fourth on the club.
Those moves helped, with Kirk and Varsho combining for four hits (three by Kirk). They had back-toback one-out singles to start the ninth-inning rally that gave the Jays some much-needed insurance, especially with the fearsome Aaron Judge leading off the bottom of the ninth and closer Jordan Romano still on the shelf.
The bigger move, though, was putting Davis Schneider in the lineup.
Schneider was responsible for the only two runs the Jays scored in Houston — a dramatic two-out, two-run, game-winning home run in the ninth inning off Astros closer Josh Hader on Tuesday. The 25year-old Schneider, who set the league on fire with his sensational debut last August, had homered in each of his two starts this season but had only been in the lineup when the Jays were facing a lefthanded starter.
Giving Schneider a start that he had very much earned against right-hander Stroman — being flexible with their plan just a week into the season — shows that the Jays may not be as married to analytics as some believe, which is a good thing. That said, Schneider’s 0for-4 Friday might have the binder brigade feeling validated in thinking he should only be starting against lefties. One hopes that isn’t the case.
Next up is Clement, who followed his home run with a fly out to the warning track in right field in his next at-bat. He’s off to a 5-for-17 start (.294) after hitting .362 in spring training, .380 in a 50-at-bat look in the bigs last season and .348 over a much longer stretch with Triple-A Buffalo last year.
Yes, the Jays gave Isiah Kiner-Falefa $15 million U.S. this winter, and it’s far too early to pull the plug on him, but I don’t believe he was signed to be in the lineup every day. At the time of the signing, we were told Kiner-Falefa turned down offers of more playing time in order to
sign with what he believed to be a team that gave him a better chance to win. He was supposed to bounce around and play great defence, and the Jays were still going to go out and get a regular third baseman.
That didn’t happen, but the position shouldn’t be his by default. Clement has shown that he may well be every bit the defender that the gold glover Kiner-Falefa is. And if the last year and change mean anything, he could easily be a much better hitter.
With the Jays struggling to put offence together, it’s not too early to give Clement a legit shot.
The bigger issue right now, though, is the top of the order. George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette combined to go 1-for-13 with two walks (all Springer) on Friday. The trio is hitting just .146 eight games in.
A tremendous day by starter Yusei Kikuchi and some huge outs late from four relievers made sure the limited offence would be enough in New York, but it’s close to a miracle that a team that has scored more than three runs only twice so far has a chance to be .500 or better for Monday’s home opener.