TORONTO – There is an energy to Russell Martin right now that the Toronto Blue Jays catcher has been missing for a while. Physically, he feels better, the neck spasms that dogged in him recent weeks are long gone and, just as importantly, there’s some jump back in his legs, too. That’s given him the freedom to be himself on the field, which means playing like a man possessed. Over the past couple of days he’s done that, and on Wednesday, a long awaited reward finally arrived.
"Sometimes you’ve got to keep things simple and one of the best parts of my game is just what I put into it," Martin said in the afternoon, hours before delivering the game-winning single in a 4-3 win as the Blue Jays walked off the Texas Rangers for the second straight night. "When you put your heart into something, it’s just trying to win. I couldn’t honestly care less about my statistics – it can affect you a little bit – but when you get back down to the basics, the goal is to win the game that day.
"When you get your mind right, you don’t take anything for granted. Keep it as simple as possible, tomorrow is never guaranteed. My goal is to try and play today’s game like tomorrow is not guaranteed. That’s how I’m going after it. We’ll see how long that can last, the season is long, but that’s how I’m going to go about it. I’m going to go hard."
Martin certainly hit the ball hard off Tony Barnette in the ninth as the Blue Jays continued to change their vibe before a crowd 25,229. Edwin Encarnacion — who hit a game-tying homer in the sixth — started the winning rally with a single, Ezequiel Carrera ran for him, and after Justin Smoak and Kevin Pillar both walked, Martin took two curveballs before driving a third hook to deep right, setting off pandemonium.
His teammates pummelled him by the pitcher’s mound and later doused him with a drink cooler, some good times for a team that’s often lacked them this season.
"That’s what gets your mojo going," Martin said afterwards.
Aaron Sanchez survived a shaky start in which he allowed two runs in the first on Adrian Beltre’s RBI single and Ian Desmond’s run-scoring fielder’s choice, and another in the second on Rougned Odor’s RBI single.
But he settled after surrendering six hits in those two innings, giving up only a single and two walks over the next five frames. He struck out five over his seven innings, the fourth time in six starts he’s gone that deep into a game, coaxed along by Martin this time.
"Just his communication between innings," Sanchez said of some of the subtle ways Martin helps out his pitchers. "Obviously those first couple of innings, it wasn’t ideal and he just said, ‘Stick with it. Your stuff is good tonight, don’t be afraid of the zone.’ There might be some key things, too, like stay on top of the ball, throw it through me, not to me, there are so many different things that can go on during the course of a game, but tonight he was in my ear the whole time, especially after the third inning, ‘Stay right there, just stay right there,’ and it all worked out."
The Blue Jays clawed their way back into things Wednesday as Jose Bautista ended an 0-for-14 drought with an RBI single in the first and then, after working a two-out walk off a surprisingly effective Colby Lewis — true story — scored when Encarnacion hit his first homer since April 26 off Chris Sale.
"We can strike back in a hurry with the longball," said manager John Gibbons. "When Eddie gets going, you can ride him, everyone can jump on. He’s due."
So was Martin.
He hit the ball hard to centre in his first at-bat — on a summer’s day with the roof open, maybe it goes — grounded to second in his next trip to the plate, and added a worm-burner single up the middle in the seventh before delivering the decisive blow. The hit was especially notable because Martin went the opposite way with it, often a sign his swing is in a good place.
"It’s a small step forward," he said.
Less obvious was that Martin also ran the bases aggressively, and popped up from his crouch to attempt a back-pick at first base on Ian Desmond in the eighth.
"My body is feeling good, it allows me to do that, it’s great," said Martin. "It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good all around, I’d like to keep it that way. I’ve been banged up for the last couple of years, just legs-wise, been able to move around and be electric. The hustle part of the game is something that wasn’t there for me and it’s probably my favourite part of the whole game, you know? I had to tone it down to make sure that I could stay on the field. I had to be careful. Now I’m starting to feel better. I can move around, I can run, I can run hard, I can make somebody make a mistake by being aggressive instead of trying to survive. That’s how I feel right now."
Martin shaved his beard off a few days ago, opting to go moustache only.
A superstition?
"Just needed to change it up," he said, and it seems to have worked, for both him and the Blue Jays.