TORONTO — Five games into the Blue Jays season and manager John Gibbons is already fielding questions about his bullpen.
Brock Holt hit a grand slam and drove in five runs as the Boston Red Sox rallied from a 7-2 deficit, taking advantage of the Toronto relief corps to defeat the Jays 8-7 in their home opener Friday night.
Things had looked secure for Toronto (2-3) after a Josh Donaldson grand slam in the fourth. But the Jays relievers blew a save opportunity for the third game in the row, letting Boston (2-1) off the hook with four runs in the sixth and two in the seventh before a Rogers Centre sellout of 48,871 looking for another taste of last season’s playoff fever.
Asked if he was concerned about the bullpen, Gibbons said no before adding: "We haven’t pitched particularly well lately, that’s for sure, but they’re good … We really anticipate that’s going to be one of our strengths. It just hasn’t happened yet."
Toronto has lost its last five home openers, the longest opener losing streak in franchise history.
Donaldson, swinging a big bat despite a bum leg, made history with the Jays’ first grand slam in a home opener for a commanding 7-2 lead. But Holt, who doubled home Boston’s first run in the second, responded with his first career grand slam two innings later in the sixth off reliever Jesse Chavez to cut Toronto’s lead to 7-6.
"You don’t expect a slam out of Holt but he can hit," said Gibbons. "He got that and it kind of cancelled out Donaldson’s there.
"But normally we score that many runs, we end up winning. It’s really a typical, in a lot of ways, American League East game. In these ballparks you never feel good and if there are some innings left, that’s what can happen."
Franklin Morales was warming up in the Toronto bullpen in the sixth but reported something wasn’t right so he was sat down and Stroman faced another hitter before giving way to Chavez.
The Red Sox added two more runs in the seventh on RBI singles by David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez off Brett Cecil to pull ahead 8-7. The 40-year-old Ortiz, who had an RBI double in the third, now has 104 RBI at the Rogers Centre and 181 RBI in total off the Jays, the most by an opponent in Toronto franchise history.
It’s the second blown save opportunity this season for Cecil, who was lights out until he got injured in the playoffs last season.
The Jays got the tying run to second base in the eighth inning but reliever Koji Uehara retired Donaldson and Jose Bautista to end the threat. Flame-thrower closer Craig Kimbrel pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
Matt Barnes (1-0) got the win while Drew Storen (0-1) took the loss. The Jays used five pitchers in relief of an inconsistent Marcus Stroman. One bright light was Joe Biagini, who threw a scoreless ninth in his major-league debut.
Stroman exited in the sixth with the bases loaded after a double and a pair of walks. Things quickly turned ugly for the home side as Holt punished the Jays with his line-drive homer into right field.
Stroman gave up five earned runs — matching a career high — on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
"When I saw that three in that column that kind of showed me that my command wasn’t anywhere where it needed to be today," he said. "But it’s a long season."
Said Gibbons: "I thought he hit the wall a little bit."
It was the first home game for the Jays since Oct. 21 when they beat Kansas City 7-1 before 49,325 to extend the American League Championship series to six games. It also marked their first game under the dome with a dirt infield.
Protecting their MVP investment, the Jays shifted Donaldson from third base to DH because of a calf strain. Gibbons, wanting to keep Donaldson’s bat in the lineup while not aggravating the calf, called it the "smart thing to do."
Donaldson, who get his MVP trophy from 1987 winner George Bell prior to the game, proved him right with his third at-bat. His heroics came as Toronto, trailing 2-1, sent 11 men to the plate in the fourth inning and scored six runs on seven hits and a hit batsmen.
"First game back at home, it’s nice to be able to do something like that," said Donaldson, who admitted he had to "fight it back a little bit" during the award ceremony.
The Jays opened the inning with four straight singles from the bottom of the order, getting a break when a potential double play ball from Russell Martin hit pitcher Joe Kelly. The hard-throwing Red Sox starter then hit Kevin Pillar on the brim of his helmet to bring in a second run before Donaldson hammered a ball into left field to empty the bases and chase Kelly.
It was his third homer of the season and his second career grand slam homer. The six-run outburst was more than the Jays had scored in any of their four previous games.
It was an eventful game for Pillar who tripled and scored and notched an outfield assist before Kelly, whose fast ball hit 98 m.p.h. on the night, almost decapitated him. He remained in the game.
Darwin Barney started at third with normal DH Edwin Encarnacion at first. Martin finished at third as Gibbons ran out of options after pinch-hitting for Barney.