The Blue Jays were rewarded for showing faith in the right places at Yankee Stadium

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/04/2021 (2009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK—T.J. Zeuch has learned to trust and be trusted.

If playing that classic trust game — falling backwards into somebody’s arms — he’d doubtless sink with full faith into the arms of his defenders. Just as the Blue Jays right-hander has renewed faith in his own sinker-slider.

His opposite starter number on Easter Sunday, Domingo German of the Yankees, is scarcely trusted by his own teammates, viewed dimly.

Not about baseball, but insofar as baseball can’t be separated from the broader fabric of who we are in 2021.

“Sometimes you don’t get to control who your teammates are,” respected veteran reliever Zach Britton observed pointedly a while back, when it became clear the Yankees would not send German to Coventry for violating Major League Baseball’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

Added Luke Voit: “We’ve got his back, but he’s skating on thin ice.”

German, hard-throwing righty from the Dominican, took the mound in a meaningful game for the first time since Sept. 18, 2019, after completing an 81-game suspension.

The Yankees have been down this discomfiting road before, with stud closer Aroldis Chapman. So they have a track record of looking the other way, letting MLB handle it.

New York manager Aaron Boone addressed the matter Sunday morning, mildly. “Obviously, with what he’s been through, there’s going to be probably some polarizing at times and you’ve got to deal with it. And he will.”

Well, they cheered him, the crowd of 10,066 at Yankee Stadium. Or at least until German wobbled, surrendering a pair of home runs — to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., his first jack of the season, and a two-run shot to Randal Grichuk, as Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead. One-inning offence was all they needed as Toronto set aside the home side 3-1, taking the opening series of ’21 two out of three.

Just to remind, before leaving the subject: German is alleged to have slapped his girlfriend 17 months ago, at a charity event of all things. As the reported story goes, upon the couple returning home, German frightened the woman so much that she locked herself in the bathroom and phoned the wife of a teammate. That player came over, tried to calm down the infuriated Domingo, to little effect. Another teammate would subsequently inform the club.

No police report exists of the alleged incident because law enforcement wasn’t called.

This was the same scenario in which the Blue Jays found themselves in 2018 with stud closer Roberto Osuna. They solved their problem by trading Osuna forthwith to Houston. (Osuna, who later signed a peace bond that saw his domestic assault charge melt away, would be suspended for 75 games.)

But the New York fan base must be a forgiving bunch. Just not so much about the baseball part. A really weird dissonance.

German laboured through 22 more pitches in that third frame, replaced next inning by Michael King, who ground it out for the balance of the game. German’s pitching line: four hits, a walk, a wild pitch, two strikeouts.

The Jays made him pay for his mistakes. In sports, in baseball, one does pay for shabbiness of performance, if not necessarily character, more often than not.

Meanwhile, Zeuch was sailing through his four-inning acquittal on the bump, scattering three hits, pulled out of the only jam he confronted on an eye-popping double play turned by Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette — spin on a spearing catch from Semien, single Axel from Bichette — with Guerrero completing the play to beat Aaron Judge at first.

Zeuch explained recently that he’d come to spring training intent on proving that what the Jays had seen a year earlier was a wonky misimpression. “The biggest thing was the mental thing. Just knowing who I was or how I was pitching last spring isn’t who I am or the pitcher that I am. Knowing that the guy I was two years ago was still in there.”

Pitching coach Pete Walker helped restore that inner Zeuch, in part by eliminating the teeny pause in his arm movement, but even more by stiffening the mental component.

“He’s really made some strides,” Walker said Sunday. “Not only in velocity but command, the action on his sinker and his cutter. His breaking stuff’s been improved as well. We’ve always known he had it in him. With the ability for the sinker to play a little bit better now, that’s a big part of his success.”

Keeping the ball on the ground, because Zeuch is a contact pitcher, not a swing-and-miss guy: five groundouts to three fly balls on this sun-soaked afternoon.

“Stay aggressive, get in the zone, force early contact,” Zeuch said of his game plan. “Get the defence involved.”

Trust the defence.

A nice symbiotic rhythm exhibited, too, with Alejandro Kirk, making his first start catching this season. Zero-for-three at the plate with a walk, but that was less significant (or insignificant) than the battery synergy.

“Everything he was putting down, we were on the same page,” lauded Zeuch. “I didn’t have to shake him off. He knew what I wanted to go to right away.”

Kirk, the jolly rookie, caught Zeuch in the spring and at the alternate site last year. “Really helped build that chemistry,” said Zeuch. “The way we talk to each other in the dugout, communicate, it builds confidence.”

Manager Charlie Montoyo was pleased to get four innings out of his starter, having leaned heavily on the bullpen in this series. “Getting to the fourth was key because we knew (Trent) Thornton could go two at the most.”

Actually, Thornton, also making his season debut, went one and a third, giving up a run on two hits. Followed by Ryan Borucki, Dave Phelps, Jordan Romano — handling the top of the lineup in the eighth — and Julian Merryweather. None allowed a hit.

Another striking execution it was — literally — for Merryweather, earning his second save. Touched 99 m.p.h. ringing up leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres, got Jay Bruce to line out, then K’d Gary Sanchez with another 99-er, swinging to end the ball game.

The cherry on top was Guerrero going yard, oppo, on a 1-and-1 curveball that German hung over the plate — launched 380 feet over that enticing short porch in right field.

“That was a beautiful swing to go opposite field,” praised Montoyo.

Guerrero: “During spring training I was working a lot trying to go the opposite way. Thank God it’s paying off now.”

Yet he was just as chuffed about his defensive work at first place, his belief that teammates are increasingly trusting him to dig out the ball on throws.

“I think they’re very comfortable throwing the ball to me. I can pick them up on bad throws. I told them I’m not scared of the ball. Just throw the ball. We’ll be fine.”

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Here’s hoping the Jays stay fine, and healthy, and coronavirus-clear as they venture next into Texas for a three-game set against the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Texas, as of March 2, is a wide-open state. There are no mask mandates anywhere, no physical distancing required, no restrictions on indoor dining, shopping, movie-going. And definitely not baseball.

For the home opener Monday afternoon, Globe Life Field will be at 100 per cent capacity.

Whistling past the COVID graveyard, y’all.

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