ARLINGTON, Texas – The Toronto Blue Jays had two runners on for Troy Tulowitzki when Marcus Stroman turned to Aaron Sanchez and made a prediction.
“Marcus said something right before he hit it,” Sanchez recalls. “He said ‘if he hits a home run here he’s going to silence everybody’ and sure enough next pitch, 3-2 bomb. Everybody went quiet.”
The three-run home run gave the Blue Jays a five-run lead in a game they won 5-1 to stave off elimination. Toronto now trails Texas 2-1 in the American League Division Series thanks to the first post-season home run ever by a Blue Jays shortstop.
“It was definitely huge,” Tulowitzki said. “In the moment I was definitely pumped up, got back to the dugout and everybody’s obviously excited to put us up by five.”
Tulowitzki’s teammates jumped the moment the ball left his bat and greeted him enthusiastically in the dugout. Blue Jays relievers reacted just as excitedly in left-centre field, not far from where the home run landed.
“All the bullpen was jumping out there, celebrating,” Osuna said. “He finally woke up and we got him back. It gives us a lot more confidence. Tulo is a great player. We need him.”
None of this would be at all surprising if Tulowitzki hadn’t cracked his left shoulder blade at Yankee Stadium four weeks ago. But in recent days the shortstop didn’t quite resemble the offensive force who has 193 home runs and a career .877 OPS. As Rangers manager Jeff Banister said, “he had not found the barrel until that point.”
Make no mistake, Tulowitzki isn’t yet 100 per cent or particularly close to it. He answered questions about his home run with a massive ice pack on his shoulder and continues getting “tons of treatment.” While he’s healthy enough to play, the Blue Jays tacitly acknowledged his struggles Sunday, bumping him to the sixth spot in the batting order. That makes the home run especially significant for a team in search of offence.
“Tulo needed that, he really did,” manager John Gibbons said. “It’s been kind of a battle for him this year. Offensively he’s got some key hits along the way, but he hasn’t hit it like he normally does … If he catches fire, we’re real dangerous.”
The same can be said of the entire Blue Jays lineup, though the group hasn’t broken out just yet. After averaging 5.5 runs per game in the regular season, they’ve scored just 12 runs in three ALDS games. The Tulowitzki home run provided his teammates with a reminder of what he can do.
“It was awesome,” Josh Donaldson said. “We’ve been needing that big blow.”
“That was obviously huge for us,” David Price said. “We all know the type of player that Troy Tulowitzki is and so does everybody else in the game of baseball. He’ll be our guy. We know he will.”
Price warmed up in the Blue Jays’ bullpen and could have pitched if needed, but the Tulowitzki homer extended Toronto’s lead to the point that neither Price nor Stroman had to pitch. That means Toronto’s top two arms are available for the remainder of the series, starting in Game 4 when R.A. Dickey makes the first post-season start of his career. Another day, another must-win game.
“Before, there wasn’t that sense of finality, and here we are,” Dickey said Sunday afternoon. “The last two or three games, even from the first game, there’s this kind of presence of “the end is near” if you don’t watch it, right. That’s what’s felt different to me is just kind of that lingering sense of finality.”
The Blue Jays avoided the end Sunday, but there’s still work ahead. As vital as Tulowitzki’s home run was, the Blue Jays hope it’s the beginning of a much bigger comeback.
“It’s not relief yet,” Donaldson said. “We’re fighting for our lives.”
