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. With a keen eye for spotting opposition weaknesses and executing his lower-percentile repertoire, Bassitt delivered a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 Toronto Blue Jays win.
In a league where velocity is king, Bassitt once again showed that popping the radar gun isn’t the only way to pin a top lineup down.
“That’s two opposite sides of the spectrum there,” said Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano, who was up and ready during the ninth in case he was needed, but glad to see his teammate finish the game out. “Bassitt’s got eight pitches and can put them where he wants, calls his own pitches and has a really good game plan, knows all the hitters’ weaknesses. He executed flawlessly tonight. Strider’s got some lights out stuff, too. It’s fun watching that stuff.”
Very much so, and 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.
Starting with the Riley double-play ball in the sixth, Bassitt retired the final 11 batters he faced, needing just 103 pitches for the first nine-inning Blue Jays complete game since Marcus Stroman on April 23, 2017 at the Los Angeles Angels and first nine-inning shutout since Mark Buehrle on June 3, 2015 at Washington.
“I know a lot of people won’t say I’m a power pitcher, but I think of myself as a power pitcher,” said Bassitt. “I go at guys with basically eight pitches and say, ‘hit this.’ I was beyond blessed in Oakland with an unbelievable defence … one of the biggest reasons I came here was because we have Gold Glovers everywhere, we have Platinum Glovers everywhere. … It frees me up and makes it easy for me just to be like, all right, here we go.”
To that end, he threw 53 sinkers averaging 92.6 m.p.h. and then six other pitches six to 10 times apiece. While he got 19 whiffs and 16 foul-offs on 54 swings, the average exit velocity against him was only 86.9 m.p.h.
“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 key fifth-inning 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.
“I’m just happy to be in the lineup,” Springer said when asked about how he’s feeling. “I’m not going to make an excuse for it. I’m doing alright and I’m back out there, so that’s all that matters.”
The Blue Jays tacked on another run on a passed ball in the seventh, after Danny Young took over from Strider with two out and a runner at second, underlining how scarce contact was off the 24-year-old right-hander. He had a jaw-dropping 32 whiffs on 63 swings en route to 12 strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work, allowing five hits and a walk.
“He’s a very fun at-bat because he’s very competitive,” said Daulton Varsho, who struck out three times against Strider before taking Kirby Yates deep in the eighth. “He just comes at you. He’s not afraid to throw anything in the zone. He’s got an elite fastball. It looks like it’s going to be right there and it just disappears. I would kind of compare him to the first time I faced (Jacob) deGrom, very similar, to where you think you see it, but you don’t. Then all of a sudden you’re swinging like, ‘What am I doing?’ There’s a reason why he’s so good.”
That’s why Bassitt had to be even better, and he was, so good that with two outs in the eighth, manager John Schneider came out to check on him as Ronald Acuna Jr., stepped in for a fourth time. The lead was still 2-0 at that point, and after a brief discussion, Schneider walked away, Acuna popped to first to end the frame and then Bassitt came back out in the ninth to finish the gem.
“With the way he was throwing, he deserved a chance to stay out there,” said Schneider. “Numbers are such a big part of today’s game and you’re always weighing that. And you’re taking into account the person, too. Went out there, said ‘How are you doing?’ He said, ‘Perfect.’ I said, ‘All right, what’s your plan?’ He said, ‘Sinker away.’ And I said ‘Go get him.’ He’s the type of dude that you immediately trust because of the prep he does. And by watching how he was executing, (it) made it pretty easy.”
Said Bassitt: “If he would have took me out at 90 pitches there, we would have had an issue. I knew he didn’t point, so I was like, ‘All right, come ask me the question, and then I’m staying in and I’m going to do it. Here we go.’”
Romano, warmed and ready in the bullpen, was all for it. The Blue Jays got a seven-inning shutout from Hyun Jin Ryu on July 18, 2021 when the pandemic tweaks led to seven-inning doubleheaders while on May 18, 2019, Ryan Feierabend was credited with a four-inning complete game in a rain-shortened 4-1 loss at the White Sox.
“I definitely like closing games, but I really did not want to go in tonight, you know what I mean?” said Romano. “How he handled the lineup all night and the way he finished it out, I’d never seen a complete game since I’ve been in the big-leagues on our side. Especially a complete-game shutout against the Braves, that’s a really good lineup. It was awesome to watch.”
It very much was.
