TORONTO – What misery it must be stepping in against Spencer Strider. The electric right-hander sits 97 m.p.h. with a fastball he can move all around the zone and then spits out a disappear-from-the-zone slider that looks exactly like a heater until it’s too late. Even with just two pitches, little wonder his strikeouts-per-nine is a bonkers 15.1. His stuff is as elite as it gets.
Yet there pitch-for-pitch with the Atlanta ace and beyond Friday night was Chris Bassitt, the thinking man’s pitcher who with a keen eye for spotting opposition weakness and executing his lower-percentile repertoire delivered a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 Toronto Blue Jays win.
To call the 34-year-old’s performance before a Rogers Centre crowd of 35,047 masterful would be an understatement. While he did need a few defensive gems behind him, notably Kevin Kiermaier’s sliding catch in centre on Travis d’Arnaud to open the third and Matt Chapman’s spectacular 5-3 double play on an Austin Riley smash in the sixth, he pinned down the National League’s best offence from the jump and didn’t let up.
His one real trouble spot came in the fifth, when Eddie Rosario hit a one-out double and he hit Ozzie Albies and d’Arnaud and walked Michael Harris. But Alejandro Kirk threw out Rosario trying to steal third for a pivotal out and Orlando Arcia eventually flew out to right to end the threat.
“He’s one of the better pitchers I’ve seen,” Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson, a teammate of Bassitt’s in Oakland, said before the game. “A lot of guys come out and try to out-stuff you and rely on the pitches. He’s more of a guy out there playing a chess match, reading swings and competing.”
The only question was whether the Blue Jays, back at the dome to begin a 10-game homestand after a disappointing 3-6 road trip, could squeeze out some offence against Strider, which they did right after Bassitt’s pivotal escape.
Whit Merrifield played catalyst with a two-out single and a steal of second, Kiermarier worked a walk and George Springer, back in the starting lineup after being felled by a viral infection in Philadelphia, ripped a 96.5-m.p.h. fastball through the left side.
Merrifield scored easily and when Rosario threw home, Springer went for second. Catcher Sean Murphy then threw to second, prompting Kiermaier to break for home, where he was initially called safe but that was overturned on replay.
The Blue Jays tacked on another run on a passed ball in the seventh while Daulton Varsho added a solo shot in the eighth.
With two outs in the eighth, manager John Schneider came out to check on Bassitt, who was about to face Ronald Acuna Jr., for a fourth time. After a brief discussion, Schneider walked away, Acuna popped to first to end the frame and then came back out in the ninth to finish the gem.
