TORONTO – From an identity standpoint, the Toronto Blue Jays are built to be an offensive ball club, first and foremost, featuring a deep lineup with power to spare. That’s why the way they took two of three from the New York Yankees during the season’s opening series in the Bronx was as important as the wins themselves.
“We didn’t score a lot of runs and we won two games,” shortstop Bo Bichette said of the series that featured a collective score of 9-8. “Everybody knows we can hit. Being able to pitch and play defence in those types of games is huge. And we did a really good job of that.”
The offence, of course, will come, the way it did in Monday’s 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers, highlighted by back-to-back home runs from Marcus Semien and Cavan Biggio in the decisive second inning. But it’s the Blue Jays’ pitching and defence which will ultimately decide the club’s fate this season, which is why Steven Matz’s debut was so notable.
The left-hander allowed just one run on two hits and a walk while striking out nine Rangers over 6.1 innings before a near-capacity crowd at Globe Life Field, where 38,238 tickets were sold for the home opener because Texas has apparently cancelled COVID-19.
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Matz averaged 95.3 m.p.h. with a fastball that generated six of his 15 swinging strikes, and a changeup that led to five more whiffs kept opposing batters off-balance throughout the afternoon. Along with a sprinkling of 11 curveballs and eight sliders, there was no chance for the Rangers to hone in on one offering, especially with how the 29-year-old filled the zone.
Coming off a dismal 2020 season that prompted the New York Mets to dump him to the Blue Jays for three roster-fringe arms, the outing represented a glimpse of Matz’s past form, and an important translation of his spring success to the regular season.
The Blue Jays gave him an immediate margin for error, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., delivering an RBI single in the first before Semien cashed in a Randal Grichuk walk in the second with his second homer followed by Biggio’s first homer of the season.
After Nate Lowe cashed in the only Texas run against Matz with a base hit, in the fourth, the Blue Jays tacked on another run in the fifth on Grichuk’s RBI single and one more in the sixth when third baseman Charlie Culberson couldn’t handle a Teoscar Hernandez smash.
There were opportunities for plenty more, too, as the Blue Jays went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position. With George Springer inching toward a return – he’s slated to take some live batting practice Tuesday – the lineup will soon get deeper, and they’ll do more damage once more hitters get their timing down, too.
On days when they get the type of outing Matz delivered, the Blue Jays should then enjoy plenty of low-leverage days.
Although manager Charlie Montoyo had Jordan Romano lightly warming behind Tim Mayza in the eighth and Rafael Dolis in the ninth, he was able to give his relievers a low-pressure day and have his leverage arms – Julian Merryweather included – available for Tuesday.
Merryweather saved both wins in New York in electric fashion and how he gets used is an increasingly intriguing question. The Blue Jays had notions of stretching him out during spring training and then perhaps using him as a multi-inning option, but there’s certainly a case to be made for letting him air things out for an inning at a time.
“Our goal is to keep him healthy however we do it,” said Montoyo. “If it takes for him to pitch one inning at a time, that’s what we’ll do. Of course, he’s looked pretty good in the one inning outings. There’s a chance that we might do that. But we’ll see. It’s about communicating with him and seeing how healthy is and we go from there.”
