TORONTO — The opening night of this high-stakes series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays was, in part, the baseball equivalent of fighting over field position. Five games in 72 hours, including a day-night doubleheader Tuesday, can very quickly wear out a pitching staff and the attrition adds up quickly. With both teams essentially planning a bullpen game in the twin-bill’s nightcap, chewing up the other side’s arms could pay off big the next three days.
To that end, both teams needed quantity as well as quality from their starters Monday and Jose Berrios did his part by pitching into the seventh inning, leaving only eight outs for his bullpen to cover. The Rays, on the other hand, rode call-up Cooper Criswell for 3.1 frames and four relievers behind him, after using 10 different pitchers — including Jays nemesis Ryan Yarbrough — the previous two days at the New York Yankees.
In the end, Bo Bichette continued his torrid September with his latest remarkable at-bat, taking Jason Adam, the last Rays hurler of the night, deep in the eighth inning to give the Blue Jays a thrilling 3-2 victory.
Raimel Tapia opened the frame with a leadoff single and steal of second, Adam rallied to get George Springer — on a comebacker to the mound — and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — on a strikeout — before Bichette caught a 3-2 slider diving toward the outer corner and ripped over the wall in left-centre.
An elated Rogers Centre crowd of 23,002 stood and cheered until the reigning American League player of the week took a reluctant curtain call. That it came after the testy exchanges that followed Javy Guerra grazing Bichette’s wrist with a pitch that brushed past the bill of his helmet in the bottom of the sixth only added to the drama.
Jordan Romano closed things out in the ninth for his 33rd save, helped by a brilliant running catch from Jackie Bradley Jr. on Manuel Margot’s drive to deep centre.
The late rally helped bail out Danny Jansen, whose mental mistake in the sixth inning — airmailing a throw to second on ball four, letting Randy Arozarena take third and eventually score on Margot’s fielder’s choice — led to a 2-1 Rays lead.
Bichette narrowly escaped taking Guerra’s 97.1 m.p.h. sinker in the face and smashed his bat in frustration before whipping it away. Home-plate umpire Brennan Miller quickly jumped out in front of the mound in anticipation of trouble but the star shortstop ran up the line and was stranded along with Guerrero when Alejandro Kirk bounced out.
The next frame, Berrios hit Francisco Mejia on the hip with an 0-1 four-seamer, triggering warnings for both clubs and an extended bout of chirping between Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker and Rays counterpart Kyle Snyder. Interim Blue Jays manager John Schneider also got some words in.
Given the bigger-picture aspirations for both clubs cooler heads prevailed, and even after Arozarena swung his bottom hand into a Yimi Garcia sinker in the eighth.
The Blue Jays will start Alek Manoah in the opener of Tuesday’s doubleheader against Jeffrey Springs, with Mitch White set to anchor the Blue Jays’ relievers against the Rays’ bullpen.
