Elliott: Three Cleveland arms put up nine zeros in ALCS opener
Edwin Encarnacion walks away after being rung up by plate ump Laz Diaz in the eighth inning of Game 1.
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
What? You expected them to run the table?
You can't win them all unless you win the first four in a row?
OK who had eight additional straight wins?
Walking off the Baltimore Orioles -- without Zach Britton -- and sweeping the Texas Rangers gave the indication to Jays fans that October was going to be a walk through a forest. the ground blanketed with autumn leaves ... all the way to the confetti of a World Series parade.
Easy ... take a breath.
Former Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber, the best starter on either club, worked 6 1/3 scoreless and then lefty Andrew Miller took over facing six hitters and striking out five. Kluber, Miller and closer Cody Allen combined on the seven-hit shutout as the Cleveland Indians edged the Blue Jays 2-0 in Game 1 of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
Game 2 is Saturday afternoon as J.A. Happ faces Josh Tomlin, moved up from his original Game 3 assignment after Trevor Bauer needed stitches in his pinky finger -- don’t try this at home kids -- while adjusting his drone. An incident like this never happened to Sandy Koufax.
Is it win or else in Game 2? No, the Jays dropped the first two games of the best-of-five AL Division Series a year ago at home against the Texas Rangers and rallied to win.
But maybe scoring a run would be nice. Getting a lead would be nicer.
The thing is, the Jays were not the wild, undo-the-top-button-swing-from-the-heels Jays that they were a lot of nights this season -- especially early September. The scoreboard showed nine zeros but truth is the Jays did have a two-strike approach. It was an excellent approach ... just like Game 1 against the Ranger when the Jays had eight two-strike hits (homers by Melvin Upton and Jose Bautista plus hits by two hits by Josh Donaldson, Ezequiel Carrera, Edwin Encarnacion, Troy Tulowitzki and Bautista).
Facing Kluber, Donaldson singled on a 2-2 pitch in the first and moved to third when Encarnacion doubled over the right fielder’s head; Michael Saunders singled to right on an 0-2 Kluber pitch in the second, Encarnacion singled to centre on another 0-2 pitch in the third; Saunders singled to left on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth; Tulowitzki singled to right centre on a 1-2 count in the sixth and Donaldson singled on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth.
So why the zeros? Well, Kluber fanned Bautista and Russell Martin in the first, retired Devon Travis on a double play ball in the second, struck out Martin in the third and retired Travis on a fly ball to end the fourth. The Jays had two runners aboard in each of the first three innings and had a man on second after Kevin Pillar was robbed by Jason Kipnis who dove to field a grounder in the whole. That left the Jays oh-for-5 with men in scoring position. The Indians were hitless in four opportunities.
Kluber, Miller and Allen combined to strike out six. The Jays averaged 8.4 whiffs per game over the course of the 162-game season.
Estrada pitched well retiring the first five in order, then five more consecutive after a Lonnie Chisenhall single. He had allowed three singles -- two by Chisenhall and one by Francisco Lindor -- with the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the sixth. Estrada walked Kipnis on five pitches and then tried to bounce an 0-2 changeup to Lindor. Well, it did bounce -- off the hands of a fan in the bleachers in right centre.
The Jays did little against a rested Cleveland bullpen: only the lead-off single by Donaldson.
THE INJURED: Second baseman Devon Travis only played the wild card game and Game 1 against the Rangers due to a sore right knee. After having a cortisone shot he was pronounced fit and ready. His return to form lasted all of 4 1/2 innings. Coco Crisp bunted Chisenhall to second. Travis was late covering and got there just in time to take the throw from 1B Encarnacion.
Now, would the Jays have been wiser to allow Estrada to field all the bunts and tell Encarnacion to stay at home covering first when they had a one-legged second baseman? Who knows? The next batter, Tyler Naquin, hit a roller which Estrada fielded. Starting quickly Travis immediately had pain and came up limping.
Ryan Goins took over in the field and then Darwin Barney pinch hit for Goins in the seventh, the first man to face Miller. Hang with ‘em.
THE GOOD: Encarnacion doubled and singled his first two at-bats and probably would have knocked in a healthy Donaldson as the ball nestled at the bottom of the fence rather than kicking back to Chisenhall ... Donaldson singled twice, while DH Saunders had a pair of singles. The other hit went to Tulowitzki ... Estrada pitched a complete game (101 pitches) giving his team a chance to win and saving the Jays bullpen. He lowered his post-season ERA to 2.02.
THE BAD: Take away the three two-hit men and the Jays (Carrera, Upton, Bautista, Martin, Tulowitzki, Pillar, Travis, Goins and Barney) were a combined 1-for-21 (.048) ... Jays were hitless in five at-bats with men in scoring position stranding eight base runners ... PH Upton was rung up on a called strike three by plate ump Laz Diaz (not a strike) as was Encarnacion (a strike). But the Jays should not be surprised that Diaz’s strike zone would appear to be floating on a coffee table on the S Deck of a Norwegian Cruise Line. Bautista arrived as the peace keeping force. And in fairness, Diaz did not snap ... Indians left-handed hitters were 1-for-12 (.083) batting against Estrada, but in this one they were 6-for-21 (.350), including the lead-off bunt by Carlos Santana.
NO WAY TO TREAT A HOFer: What is the deal with FOX? Last series -- Cleveland-Boston Red Sox -- Cal Ripken was in the camera well at Progressive Field in Cleveland and atop the Green Monster in Boston.
For Game 1, he was again at sub-field level. Ah, this is not Barry Davis.
NUMBERS: Some key numbers from Game 1 of the ALCS Friday night
5 _ Pitchers in the history of the game to throw at least six scoreless in his first two career postseason outings: Christy Mathewson of the 1905 New York Giants, three starts; Steve Avery of the 1991 Atlanta Braves, Joe Niekro of the 1980-81 Houston Astros, Dustin Mails of the 1920 Indians and Kluber, two apiece. Matt Cain of the 2010 San Francisco Giants allowed zero earned runs, but allowed an unearned run to score against the Braves. .
8 _ Hits in 20 post-season at-bats for Encarnacion with three homers and seven RBIs.
31 _ Pitches by RP Andrew Miller facing six Jays hitters, recording five strikeouts. Will he be available for more than an inning in Game 2?
61 _ Wins in 63 games for the Indians this season when leading by two or more runs after six innings.