One up, one down for the Blue Jays — they’re just getting warmed up

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This article was published 03/04/2021 (1681 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK—Took a stroll around the ballpark, if only to get blood circulating again in extremities frozen by an open-air press box.

Funny how an announced “sellout” crowd — of 10,107 spectators, all duly COVID-negative-proofed and temperature-tested at the gates — can feel splotchy in canyonesque Yankee Stadium.

This is the new normal in baseball, but decidedly not normal.

Brilliantly sunny on a spring Saturday, but wickedly cold nonetheless, as fans huddled in distanced clots. As inhospitable and wind-whipped as Exhibition Stadium in days of yore.

Back in situ on reporter row just in time to watch Rafael Dolis hand promenade passes to three Yankees. In the sixth inning, when most had figured the hard-throwing right-hander was a later-inning guy, as the Toronto bullpen lines up.

Through two games, however, the Blue Jays have already barrel-housed through 10 relief arms. Didn’t help that starter Ross Stripling lasted only 3 1/3 innings. Not the eye-opening impression he was hoping to make in what he admitted would be an audition every time out to secure a hold in the rotation, bumped up to No. 2 with Robbie Ray on the 10-day IL.

But the fret around the game, even before the season launched, was that starters, coming off a truncated 2020, wouldn’t have had enough time to build up arm strength and durability.

Everybody is just rolling with the logistical punches.

Stripling et al got punched out by the Yankees, 5-3. Which is what happens when 17 players get on base, a half-dozen issued walks.

Meanwhile, the Jays were unable to take fulsome advantage of a somewhat staggering Corey Kluber — making his first start in pinstripes, twice a Cy Young Award winner but that dominance long past, gifting Toronto with a brace of wild pitches and a hit batter. The visitors scrambled for the two runs they were able to peel off the veteran 34-year-old, including a fourth-inning home run by Marcus Semien, who had himself quite a dandy afternoon: atoning for his 0-for-5 phfft 24 hours earlier: a pair of stolen bases, a walk and two ribbies to go with the jack.

The second pilfered bag, in the third frame, was part of an episode that saw Jays at the corners with just one out. Cavan Biggio was rung up looking at the plate, but Semien was on the move as Danny Jansen, who’d also walked, scurried home when Gary Sanchez airmailed a throw to second that ended up in centre field.

There were only so many gimmes, though, that the home side would dangle. The Yankee mantra in 2021 is World Series Or Bust. They’ll be seeing plenty of American League East Division rival Toronto in the process. On this, what was only their second game at Yankee Stadium in 534 days, they made the most of what Toronto proffered.

After Sanchez went long on Stripling, who subsequently walked Clint Frazier, manager Charlie Montoyo had seen enough, summoning Tyler Chatwood to face Aaron Judge, who lined a slider over Bo Bichette’s head. A strong throw to the plate by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. limited the damage, but the Yankees came out of the frame with a 3-1 lead.

Montoyo turned next to Ryan Borucki. Having forsaken his dream of making the starting rotation, Borucki is expected to be a sturdy member of the relief cadre. He put down two Yankees quickly, but a Bichette error — throwing across his body, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stretching for the scoop at first, but the ball bounced away — put Gio Urshela on second after an infield single. Still, a tidy inning for the lefty.

On the other side of Dolis, who’d loaded the bases on five batters, Tim Mayza emerged from the ’pen for his first time in a real game since Sept. 13, 2019, when he’d walked off the mound in the 10th inning, at Rogers Centre, with pain in his elbow. Tommy John surgery and more than a year of rehab late, Mayza had been the feel-good story of spring training, claiming the last reliever spot available. A bloop single by Jay Bruce took a teeny bit of the sheen off his comeback as the Yankees pushed ahead 5-2, that run charged to Dolis.

Toronto could add only one more run, orchestrated by a wild pitch, Randal Grichuk scoring in the seventh.

“He puts a smile to my face every time I see him on the mound, just because of what he’s gone through and the way he’s pitching right now,” Montoyo said of Mayza afterwards. “You’re going to see him come in any time to face whoever. He looked good and he did a good job. That’s how he looked in spring training. I’ve very happy for Tim Mayza and for us.”

But the walks, across the board, sheesh. With this potent a lineup?

Montoyo and the pitching coach Pete Walker had stressed the importance of avoiding freebies. Babe Ruth is dead, as they say, throw strikes.

“One of the reasons we didn’t win the game was because of walks,” said the skipper, stating the obvious. “You can’t do that against good teams.”

But Montoyo is Montoyo. He still preached the positive. “We’re going to be fine. It’s just two games and we’ve got to get back to throwing more strikes, but we’re 1-1 right now.’’

So there is that. And there were certainly several grace notes in this game, from which to be going on with. Guerrero Jr. settling in nicely at first, for one thing. Footwork still needs some work but the converted third baseman — which he still pines for, the hot corner, now occupied by Biggio — did a fine job on picks and the back end of attempted double plays.

Of course, the Jays were double-play victims in both the first and second innings, which didn’t augur well.

And there was Semien, ranging deftly to his left and right in the field, finding his eye in the box, copping a brace of steals.

“There’s a lot of things that most of our lineup, we’re still trying to find. You get a clean slate after spring. Regular season games feel a lot different.”

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Semien cut the Toronto defence some slack. “First and foremost, this is an infield that sometimes it’s tough to read hops, tough sun out there. It’s not an easy place to play defence. But it’s still early, like I said. There’s things that we’re going to need to figure out and get used to.”

He gave full chops to Guerrero, from his perspective.

“He’s still a third baseman in my mind. He’s got good glovework over there. There are going to be plays that come up that are new to him. So far, he’s been solid. I know he tried to stretch on that one that pulled his (foot) off the bag. But that’s an aggressive mistake. You can’t be mad at that one.’’

Nobody’s mad. Just friggin cold.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno