Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Right There At Rogers!



And in the middle of playoff frenzy.

Last week, on September 1st, I took in the Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians game at Rogers Centre with a friend. It was just a day shy of the 25th anniversay of Dave Stieb's no-hitter vs. the Tribe. Things didn't start out well for us as we were a little slow. A slight delay by the train and suddenly, we knew we going to miss the 7:07 start.

When we did arrive, we found we had sadly missed the first 2 1/2 innings. Arriving for the bottom of the third, we saw Bautista hit it into the stands...Foul. But not by much.

But the Jays had a 1-0 at this time (Having scored a run in the bottom of the first on a sac fly). Bautista was at the dish with runners on second and third and less then two outs. A fly would do it. Bautista did just that to make it a 2-0 game. Would Cleveland come back?

The very next inning answered the question. Marco Estrada was cruising along through three innings (1-hitter), but after getting the leadoff man in the top of the fourth, a home run via Michael Brantley cut the lead to 2-1. Estrada got the next two batters out, and looked comfortable in doing so.

The Jays had seeming solved Cleveland's starter, Cody Anderson with the two tallies earlier, but like so many pitchers before him, he settled down. The Toronto Blue Jays were retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Anderson's night was over, but he had retired the last ten men to face him. Two runs allowed over six innings is pretty good pitching. And Cody had given the Indians a chance to tie this thing.

That they did.

Estrada started to stagger through innings. The top of the fifth saw Cleveland pick up a single and walk off him. Neither scored. Another single in the top of the sixth led nowhere, but Cleveland was coming alive. You could just tell.

A solo home run by Yan Gomes tied this thing in the top of the seventh. Estrada got the next three batters out, to end his night with a quality start. But the Jays needed at least another run to win this thing.

The bottom of the seventh saw Justin Smoak get the ball rolling with a walk. Dalton Pompey came in to run. I was sure Dioner Navarro would bunt, but he didn't. All he could do is fly to left. Pompey did not advance, of course. Kevin Pillar was the batter.

The first pitch was a ball. Pillar stole second.

The 2-0 pitch was a strike. Pillar stole third.

Another sac fly would do it. Pillar lined to centre to get Pillar home. 3-2, Toronto!

The top of the eighth saw two changes for the Jays. First, with Estrada's night over, it was time for Aaron Sanchez to come in. Chris Colabello came in for Pompey to play first. But the innings' big story was The Challenge.

One of the game's best stories was Cleveland's Francisco Lindor. The Jays looked like they had a hit earlier in the game. In the bottom of the sixth, Edwin Encarnacion sent one to short. A hit! No! Lindor went diving to his left, catching the thing on the fly.

Here, in the top of the eighth, and Toronto just six outs away from wrapping it up, the Indians needed to make their move. You see, the Jays had the lead. And the house was packed. Packed. Let me tell you...The feeling (It was actually around 33 degrees celsius according to Buck Martinez with all the humidity in the air. The floodlights had that fog around them. Like in the scene in Field Of Dreams) in the air that night was ecstatic as the team has really been embraced with all the new additions and attitude. The rest of the game seemed like a formality.

With one down, Lindor hit a double that the Jays seemed to have him DOA'd on. Right there at second. And in plenty of time. This just had to be a bad call! John Gibbons challenged it. The replay showed Lindor made a neat dive, twisting and taking his right hand away from the tag. Good call! Would this come back to haunt Toronto?

Well, as it turns out, the Blue Jays ended up surviving that, but could not score in their half of the inning. Some insurance would have been nice in the bottom of the frame. Alas, not to be. Top of the ninth. The end was near for Cleveland. Or so it seemed. I sure did!
Three more outs.

And them, just when it all seemed over with Roberto Osuna on the hill, disaster struck. The Jays were actually only two outs away. Oh!

That in the form of Gomez again. Again, the long bomb. Another solo shot. But it was enough to tie it. The realization hit me that Toronto might well lose this thing. And after all that energy in the house, and 2-0 and 3-2 leads, that would be devastating. And when Abraham Almonte followed the home run with a triple. There was still only one out!

Osuna managed to pull himself together. It was a rare blown save, as he'd been 16/17 (Now 16/18) coming into this contest. But he got the next two men out, all the while holding Almonte to ninety feet from the dish. Toronto, however, got not a man on in the bottom of the bottom of the ninth. It was time for extras! One way or another, this game was going to be decided in overtime.
Cleveland got another double from...You guessed it, Lindor. Brett Cecil was on in relief and the lefty had some pressure on him. But he rose to the challenge. He put a man on with two down and Lindor still anchored to second.
But when Mark Lowe came on to pitch to pinch hitter Jerry Sands, Gibby looked like a genius. Lowe got him on a grounder to Troy Tulowitzki at short.

And then, it the bottom of the tenth, a storybook ending for this unforgettable night!

Bryan Shaw was back on the hill for his second inning of work. And he didn't have it. I noticed it almost right away. While the game was tied, I started to believe (Or wanted to) that things were looking up for Toronto.

Navarro got it all going with a single. You knew it was pinch runner time. That ended up being Ezequiel Carrera. Pillar battled him to a full count, but could only fly out. However, as the at-bat was unfolding, Shaw looked tired. And he was struggling to find the plate. He'd gotten ahead of Nav 0-2, but failed to do what you should do in that situation, waste a pitch.

Ryan Goins was the batter.

Shaw missed with the first pitch. He didn't with the second, but Goins had no intention of letting Cleveland off the hook. He belted the 1-0 high and deep to right...Did it have enough to go?

Yes!
A dramatic walk off. Well, not quite on the level of Joe Carter back in 1993, but close enough. The Jays had themselves a dramatic 5-3 win in front of a packed, delirious house at home. A character building win for Toronto. Something they've been doing a lot of in recent weeks!

References

September 1, 2015 Cleveland Indians at Toronto Blue Jays Box Score and Play by Play | Baseball-Reference.com (Baseball-Reference.com)
http://www.baseballreference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR201509010.shtml

Cleveland Indians out-homer powerful Toronto Blue Jays, but lose, 5-3, in 10 innings
By: Paul Hoynes, Northeast Ohio Media Group.
http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2015/09/cleveland_indians_toronto_blue_20.html

Cleveland Indians v Toronto Blue Jays (Zimbio)
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/VSky_ixixxg/Cleveland+Indians+v+Toronto+Blue+Jays/9E1dQQG82ok/Francisco+Lindor

Ryan Goins homers to lift Blue Jays in extras (Major League Baseball)
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/146757200/ryan-goins-homers-to-lift-blue-jays-in-extras?game_pk=415619
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