TORONTO – Days like this have been pretty rare for the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays.
Their starter contained one of baseball’s best lineups into the sixth inning, two of their young hitters homered and the bullpen did just enough to hold on. For a team that had lost eight of its previous 10 games, the resulting 6-4 win over the Houston Astros was a welcome change.
Even then, it wasn’t an easy win. Each of the 10 walks issued by Blue Jays pitchers nudged manager Charlie Montoyo’s stress level a little higher.
"I honestly aged, like, 10 years today," Montoyo said afterwards.
"It was a mentally draining game," starter Clay Buchholz added. "I’m glad it’s over."
Without Buchholz, the win wouldn’t have been possible. Pitching for the second time since returning from the injured list, the 35-year-old allowed just two runs over 5.2 innings.
"That’s a grind," he said. "That’s a really, really good lineup. If not the best lineup in baseball it’s definitely top two or three."
Though his fastball averaged just 91 m.p.h. and he generated only five swinging strikes on the afternoon, Buchholz appeared to keep the Astros off-balance with his five-pitch mix. Plus, his defence helped him out. Derek Fisher took a potential extra-base hit away from Yordan Alvarez in the first inning then proceeded to double Jose Altuve off at first. That was the first of four double-plays turned behind Buchholz, who walked five Astros.
"He just knows how to pitch," Montoyo said. "He finds a way to get people out. That was impressive to me, seeing someone throw 90-91 with no command today find a way to get people out."
[snippet id=4722869]
Houston kept threatening against Toronto’s middle relievers, but closer Ken Giles struck out the side against his former team to lock down the win.
With Hall of Famer and Astros special assistant Craig Biggio in attendance, Cavan led the way offensively against his father’s former team, scoring the Blue Jays’ first run of the game and later driving in three more.
"It’s a pretty cool moment, not only for me but for my family," Cavan said afterwards. "I’m not going to lie (Craig) definitely wants them to win, but he wants me to do well."
Hitting coach Guillermo Martinez recently urged Biggio to be a little more aggressive in the strike zone and that advice has paid off of late with a home run Friday and another one Saturday. The 24-year-old now has 12 home runs on the season to go along with a .345 on-base percentage.
"The last three days he’s swinging the bat," Montoyo said. "He’s not waiting for strikes, he’s being aggressive and it’s paying off."
Two innings after going deep, Biggio doubled home Bo Bichette, who capped off an incredible month of August with yet another multi-hit game. The shortstop’s now hitting .338 with a 1.003 OPS since joining the Blue Jays in late July.
[snippet id=3305549]
While Bichette’s hitting has been the talk of the team, Teoscar Hernandez has quietly been on a productive run of his own. Entering play Saturday, he was hitting .241/.322/.532 since being recalled from triple-A on June 5. A two-run homer off Houston starter Framber Valdez only gave Hernandez 21 on the season, just one shy of last year’s total.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was back in the lineup the afternoon after his first career ejection. Blue Jays coaches weren’t thrilled to see Guerrero Jr. argue balls and strikes, since borderline calls will sometimes go against him and he has to be able to stay composed when they do. At the same time, there’s an understanding that he’s 20 years old. Lapses in judgment will happen. Ideally, he learns from them.
Even on a day that so much went right for the Blue Jays, there was no margin for error, reinforcing just how far ahead of the Astros are. And if any doubt remains as to the relative competitiveness of these teams, just look ahead at Sunday’s pitching matchup: Justin Verlander for the Astros, a bullpen day for the Jays.
In the meantime, the Blue Jays can enjoy this one. Wins of any kind have been tough to come by lately, and this win came against one of baseball’s best teams. For the players on the field and the 26,414 in attendance that’s an ideal Saturday at the ballpark.
As Montoyo said, "there’s no ugly wins." Just wins that age you a little.
[relatedlinks]
