Blue Jays use timely pitching to spoil Encarnacion's return

If you get all your information from old baseball cliches, you know that there are only two things that win ballgames: great pitching and timely hitting.

While it’s hard to dispute either as an important ingredient to claiming victory, part of what makes baseball beautiful is its variety – and on Monday the Blue Jays turned that cliche on its head, winning a 4-2 contest over the Cleveland Indians on the strength of pitching that couldn’t have been timelier.

In a game that was supposed to be about Edwin Encarnacion’s return to Toronto, it was Marcus Stroman who stole the show. Encarnacion put in a strong performance, though, going 2-for-3 with a walk in the loss. His opening at-bat and tribute video both pulled at the heartstrings of the 40,014 fans in attendance – who gave him the welcome he deserved for his storied 999-game tenure in Toronto. The “feels” were certainly in the house, but if they had a say in the outcome it’s impossible to decipher how.

“After that first at-bat, after the video and that the standing ovation it turns into just baseball,” Ryan Goins – who went 1-for-2 with a massive second-deck home run – said after the game.

Instead, Stroman was the difference maker, holding the Indians scoreless over six innings. The results were there, but he pitched in and out of trouble all night. The 26-year-old managed just one strikeout against two walks and allowed two men to get on base in four different innings.

“He was good. I’ve seen him better, there’s no doubt about that,” manager John Gibbons said of the start. “But I thought it was a good outing for him.”

Although Stroman struggled to keep the Indians off the base paths at times, he had no problem keeping them there. Stroman held Cleveland to a 0-for-8 mark with runners in scoring position and tied a bow on three different frames with groundball double plays.

In his final inning, he used Kevin Pillar’s best catch of the season to make his escape.

“Same as always,” Pillar said of the highlight-reel grab with a smile. “Go catch the ball.”

Pressed for a little more detail, the centre fielder explained the fact the ball was hit to slightly to his right made all the difference on the catch.

“We’ve all the seen the Jim Edmonds play, the one that’s directly over you is going to be the most difficult,” he said. “I was fortunate that the ball was a little bit off to my side, it allowed me to dive at an angle where I felt comfortable making a play.”

Getting out of trouble unscathed was a welcome change for Stroman, who tends to have trouble working out of the stretch. Coming into Monday’s action, he’d allowed hitters to slash .290/.338/.428 against him with men on base in his career compared to .235/.284/.347 with the bases empty. The issue had been especially pronounced in 2017, where opponents had tagged him with runners on to the tune of a .327/383/.491 line.

For one night at least that ceased to be an issue – as the Blue Jays defence assisted heavily with Pillar’s heroics and the three twin killings”

“In not just baseball, in any sport, defence wins for you,” Gibbons said. “You gotta take away hits sometimes, it’s not good enough to just make the routine play.”

The relievers that followed Stroman didn’t entirely lock down the game, allowing two runs over the final three, but seemed to follow the same pattern of doing just enough. While Joe Smith allowed the only runs of the game to score on a Francisco Lindor single, he did ultimately make his way out of the eighth by striking out Encarnacion and Jose Ramirez with Lindor on third. When it was all said and done the Indians were a measly 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

For the Blue Jays, converting on opportunities was not a problem. The club didn’t exactly fill the base paths, but when they did they got their men home. The first Toronto batter to make it into scoring position was Devon Travis on a line-drive double to right. He promptly came in on a career-long 439-foot blast from Goins.

The next two were Kevin Pillar and Kendrys Morales the following inning, and Justin Smoak brought them in on a soft single. In the end the Blue Jays got just six hits, but that’s all they needed.

From the beginning of batting practice to end of his tribute video, the night was about Encarnacion. From there on it was about opportunities. The Blue Jays made good on the ones they got and although they gave a dangerous Indians lineup too many, they managed to pitch their way out of them – over and over again.