Antonacci: Reflections on the Blue Jays' opening night comeback thriller
Canadian closer Jordan Romano (Markham, Ont.) received one of the loudest ovations in the pre-game introductions at the Toronto Blue Jays’ season opener at Rogers Centre on Friday night. Photo: J.P. Antonacci
April 10, 2022
By J.P. Antonacci
Canadian Baseball Network
“Last year was the trailer,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. memorably told Toronto Blue Jays fans in spring training.
“Now you’re going to see the movie.”
The first scene of the Blue Jays’ 2022 season delivered on that promise in spades, with a come-from-behind Opening Night victory over the Texas Rangers, taking audiences from despair to joy before sending a sellout crowd home with the feeling of an October classic in early April.
Play ball
After the pregame pomp and circumstance, the hype videos and poignant moments, it was time for baseball.
Soon the familiar sounds of the ballpark filled the air:
A leather-lunged fan questioning umpire Bill Welke’s eyesight after the first pitch by Jays starter Jose Berrios was called a ball.
Cheers for the first strike, a foul ball that hit the edge of the second deck and fell into a fan’s outstretched glove.
And then, to the dismay of everyone not wearing Texas grey, a loud home run to left by Rangers leadoff man Brad Miller.
“I guess we’re going home early,” quipped one wiseacre in the stands.
A walk to former Jays second baseman Marcus Semien – cheered loudly when he stood alongside Guerrero and Teoscar Hernandez to receive their 2021 Silver Slugger awards before the game – brought up the Rangers’ other prize offseason acquisition, Corey Seager. This was not how the sea of Jays fans scripted the season’s first inning.
A strike, and a hopeful “Let’s Go Blue Jays” chant from the crowd. At 3-1, fans whistled and clapped, willing Berrios to get one over.
He got it too far over, and Seager rapped a single to right. With runners at the corners, no out and a nervous rumble in the stands, the Blue Jays infielders gathered around their embattled starter.
The sellout crowd of over 45,000 deflated as an errant fastball got away from Jays catcher Danny Jansen and Semien sauntered home. A walk to Texas catcher Mitch Garver brought pitching coach Pete Walker to the mound and prompted a call to the bullpen a few hours ahead of schedule.
“Don’t talk to him, get him out,” yelled one fair-weather fan.
“World Series contender,” muttered another.
Nathaniel Lowe drove in Seager, Berrios slapping his hands together in frustration as he backed up the plate.
His 30th pitched filled the count to Adolis Garcia and his 31st got the game’s first out, with new Blue Jays third baseman Matt Chapman showing off his vaunted range by cutting off a bouncer headed to shortstop and throwing to second base for the force.
A hit batsman later and a shell-shocked Berrios was gone. An umpire checked his cap and hands for foreign substances, which given the results hardly seemed necessary.
Charlie Montoyo’s relief corps would now have to conjure up 26 outs in an unexpected bullpen game.
Ace, the Blue Jays mascot, kept fans at the Rogers Centre entertained even when the Blue Jays were behind 7-0. Photo: J.P. Antonacci
Better than Tums
It was likely too much to ask the Jays’ bullpen to hold the Rangers scoreless.
Taylor Saucedo, summoned in a hurry to replace Berrios, got third baseman Andy Ibanez to hit into what might have been a one-pitch double play, but second baseman Cavan Biggio bobbled the transfer.
Saucedo regrouped to get Willie Calhoun to line out to centre field, the tall reliever punching his glove triumphantly as he walked off the field.
In his second inning of work, Saucedo gave up a two-run homer to Garver, pushing the score to 6-0.
“Are the Leafs playing tonight?” quipped the joker in the bleachers.
Relievers Trent Thornton – an unlikely Opening Day long man – and Adam Cimber were later nicked for a run each.
But considering the tall order they faced, it could have gone much worse for the pen men, who kept things close enough for Toronto’s bats to do what they do better than just about anyone.
Gray skies clear up
While Jays fans watched in disbelief as the Rangers jumped out to a 6-0 lead, Texas starter Jon Gray quietly set down seven hitters in a row and eight of his first nine.
The crowd, revved up by pregame light shows and highlight videos and the giddiness of seeing real live ballplayers usher in summer (nevermind that hail had fallen over the city a few hours before first pitch), was downright funereal.
A month from now, Texas manager Chris Woodward – Toronto’s Opening Day shortstop in 2003 and 2004 – probably sends Gray back out for the fifth with a four-run lead.
But a shortened spring training meant a short day for Gray, who threw 70 largely effective pitches despite finally coughing up three runs in the fourth.
He was followed by a string of also-ran relievers the Jays sluggers promptly ran out of the game.
The bats awaken
Just in case anyone had forgotten, when the Blue Jays are at bat, no lead is safe.
Blanked for the first three innings, Toronto scored in each of the remaining five, led by – who else? – Vladimir Guerrero, who rapped a single on the first pitch he saw in the fourth to score George Springer and put the Jays on the board.
The mood shifted almost immediately. This was one of the league’s most dangerous offences. They had come back from bigger deficits than this, and they could do it again.
Teoscar Hernandez walked, loading the bases with no outs for Lourdes Gurriel Jr., himself no stranger to grand slams.
Now it was the Rangers infielders forming a cocoon around Gray, who limited the damage by getting Gurriel to ground out to second, a run scoring on the fielder’s choice.
Alejandro Kirk, starting as designated hitter, drove a ball just shy of the left field warning track, deep enough to cut the Rangers lead to 7-3.
“Alright,” said one cautiously optimistic fan. “We’ve got a ballgame.”
Shades of Bautista
Among the new faces and Opening Day excitement, a small moment that should fill Jays fans with enthusiasm was seeing Springer race from first to third with apparent ease on a Bo Bichette single in the fifth. A healthy Springer atop the lineup all season would bode very well indeed.
Springer later scored on a Guerrero single, bringing up Hernandez with two on and Toronto down by three.
Hernandez blasted a 1-1 pitch from Texas reliever Josh Sbroz to deep right field to tie the game and remind everyone watching just how much fun it can be to be a Jays fan.
It don’t come easy
With the tension building and rumours of concession stands running low on beer and hot dog buns, the plot thickened in the sixth thanks to a Santiago Espinal double that gave the Jays their first lead of the game.
The mindset in the bullpen then shifted from “hold ‘em and hope” to “lock down this win.”
But nothing would come easy on Opening Day, as Texas outfielder Aroldis Garcia reached down and golfed an Adam Cimber offering to right-centre field to tie the score at 8. Garcia skipped to the dugout as the well-lubricated crowd rained down boos.
After fouling off pitch after pitch, Kole Calhoun timed up a Cimber offering and took Hernandez to the right-field wall for a long third out.
Shades of Andrus
Fittingly for a regular season game that felt more like a playoff showdown, some old ghosts paid a visit in the bottom of the seventh.
Seager booted a grounder from Bichette, which had some fans invoking snake-bitten former Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus and wondering what weirdness would befall the Texans this time.
Those same fans leapt to their feet to watch a first-pitch drive off the bat of Guerrero die just short of the fence, and lustily voiced their displeasure when Bichette was ruled out on a pickoff attempt after the Rangers challenged the call.
With two outs and no one on, was the lucky seventh no more? Hardly.
Hernandez drew a walk and hustled all the way home on a line-drive double by Gurriel. But the throw beat Hernandez and Welke called him out.
Montoyo signalled for a challenge, with Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah on the top step of the dugout, joining the thousands of fans chanting “Safe! Safe! Safe!”
Upon review, Welke told the crowd in dramatic fashion, they were right. Hernandez whooped with delight as the dejected Rangers retook the field, their lead lost for good.
Enter Romano
The Rogers Centre production team deployed the stadium’s newly installed LED lights to great effect to start the ninth. The dome was awash in maple leaf red as Canadian closer Jordan Romano jogged in under giant projections of his name and mustachioed face beside the Canadian flag. It was a neat celebration of the fireballer from Markham, Ont., who received one of the loudest cheers as players were introduced before the game.
A Jansen solo shot the previous inning added an insurance run – making the score 10-8 Toronto – and Romano rose to the occasion in the ninth, getting Seager swinging on a 3-2 pitch after a good battle to open the frame.
Gurriel’s sliding catch in the left-field corner saved a double off the bat of Mitch Garver, and with all 45,000 fans on their feet, Romano coolly fanned Lowe to send the crowd into a frenzy and cap one of the biggest comebacks in Opening Day history.
The post-game euphoria was perhaps best expressed by one emotionally exhausted fan who turned to his friends and said, “If every game is like that, I’m going to have a heart attack!”
Guerrero’s bold prediction might have actually undersold what’s in store for Blue Jays fans in 2022. As movies go, this season could be a blockbuster.
Extra innings
GM on the run
His wheeling and dealing done for now, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins ducked out of the Rogers Centre for a pregame jog. He was last seen twisting in his ear buds and darting across Bremner Boulevard while several sharp-eyed fans did a double-take.
Paying respects
Mississaugas of the Credit Chief R. Stacey Laforme got a nice hand after delivering a land acknowledgement recognizing that the stadium sits on the traditional territory of many First Nations, including the Mississaugas, Haudenosaunee, Chippewa, Wendat and Anishabeg peoples. Laforme, who on Friday appeared in a video on the revamped JumboTron, is no stranger to Rogers Centre, having participated in the club’s Orange Shirt Day pregame ceremonies last September.
Old friend alert
There was only applause from Blue Jays faithful for Texas second baseman Marcus Semien, who in a quirk of the schedule played his first official game as a Ranger against the club with whom he had his career year. Semien hugged former teammates Teoscar Hernandez and Vladimir Guerrero, all sporting big smiles as they received their Silver Slugger awards.
Toronto Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo (left) and slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. accompany Billye Aaron from the field after she presented Guerrero Jr. with the 2021 American League Hank Aaron Award, as the league’s top hitter. Photo: J.P. Antonacci
A touch of greatness
The most poignant pregame moment saw Billye Aaron, wife of the late Hank Aaron, take Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo’s arm and walk onto the field to present Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the award that bears her husband’s name, recognizing the best hitter in each league. Guerrero took off his cap and clasped Mrs. Aaron’s hand, offering his thanks for the honour before he and Montoyo each took an arm to walk her back.
Soul power
With a white grand piano parked near home plate, something special was expected for the national anthems, and Sole Power’s Kibwe Thomas and Vaness Alegacy did not disappoint. A chant of “Let’s Go Blue Jays” erupted after the last notes of O Canada as the players left their places along the third-base line and doffed their caps to the crowd. Moments later, grounds crew members more used to slinging bases and infield dirt gingerly lifted the piano onto a flatbed and slowly drove away.
Vladdy’s world
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. remains a delight to watch. On his first at bat, he walked to the plate with the same relaxed air he has when welcoming opposing baserunners to his office at first base. Guerrero clasped home plate umpire Bill Welke on the shoulder in greeting and gave catcher Mitch Garver a friendly tap before digging in.
Guerrero showed off his wheels and his defensive prowess by ranging a long way to his left to catch a pop-up and making a superb over-the-shoulder basket catch in shallow right field to rob Andy Ibanez of what looked sure to be a bloop single.
Strong start for Espinal
Santiago Espinal had to be feeling pretty good about his season debut. The Blue Jays infielder doubled in Danny Jansen with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the game. Starting second baseman Cavan Biggio never looked quite right, bobbling a potential double-play relay in the first and grounding into a double play of his own in the third before being pinch hit for Espinal.
The dazzling blue lights at the Rogers Centre were another highlight of the pre-game festivities at the Toronto Blue Jays’ season opener on Friday. Photo: J.P. Antonacci
Catch the fever
As great as it felt to be back at the ballpark, you couldn’t help but hope Blue Jays fever was the only thing spreading through the largely unmasked crowd, or on GO Train cars packed tighter than the Bloor Line at rush hour.