Blue Jays takeaways: Bottoms up to the offence in soggy series-opening win in Cleveland

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This article was published 28/05/2021 (1632 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on Friday’s 11-2 Blue Jays win in Cleveland:

One of the biggest issues the Blue Jays have had this season is a distinct lack of production from the bottom of the batting order.

Going into Friday night’s game, the 7-8-9 hitters, whoever they happened to be on any given night, had combined to hit just .198/.260/.307, killing many a burgeoning rally set up by the middle of the lineup.

In Cleveland, though, the bottom of the order was a big part of the Jays scoring early and often in their blowout win.

It started in the second inning, when Joe Panik, batting seventh, came up with a runner on second, one out and Cleveland up 2-0. He hit a line single to left to put runners on the corners.

Santiago Espinal followed and, with Panik on the move, hit a ground ball to third. With the runner in motion, the double play couldn’t be turned so Cleveland took the out at first, allowing Randal Grichuk to score.

Danny Jansen was next, and he got a fly ball up into the gale that carried over the head of centre-fielder Harold Ramirez for a game-tying double.

Panik blasted his first home run of the season an inning later, a two-run no-doubter to right that capped off a four-run frame, and singled in another in the Jays’ three-run fifth.

The second baseman got his fourth hit of the game, a two-out single, to keep the sixth inning alive for Espinal, who smacked a two-run double.

The bottom third of the order that had driven in just 39 runs over the first 49 games of the season combined for seven RBIs Friday night, while hitting .667/.750/1.222.

• Cool recovery: Single-digit temperatures, rain and serious wind combined to make it a miserable night in Cleveland and Hyun-Jin Ryu was not amused.

The Jays ace struggled badly in the first inning, throwing 32 pitches, almost half of which (15) missed the strike zone. After having issued just six walks all season — no more than one in any start — he handed out a pair of free passes in the opening frame, along with three hits.

Ryu retired only one of the first five hitters he faced, and was lucky to escape having allowed only two runs after striking out Yu Chang, the eighth Cleveland batter to come to the plate, to leave the bases loaded.

After that first inning, he was a different guy.

The lefty was almost perfect over the rest of his outing, retiring 12 of 13 in completing five innings. The only runner he allowed was on an infield single when Ramirez hit a grounder to first and Ryu didn’t get over to cover the bag quickly enough.

But that was it. After those 32 pitches in the first, Ryu threw 59 pitches (41 strikes) to get through the next four innings and, with the Jays up by nine, handed things over to Trent Thornton, who finished up the rain-shortened game.

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The cold and wind didn’t change after the first inning, but Ryu adjusted beautifully to the elements, and was all but untouchable after spending an inning getting knocked around.

• Double trouble: Jansen wasn’t the only Blue Jay to take advantage of the ferocious winds, as Toronto hitters had Cleveland outfielders running ragged most of the night.

Grichuk and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit back-to-back doubles in both the third and fifth innings, with Grichuk going the other way both times, and both times getting an assist from the winds that blew the baseball well out of the reach of right-fielder (and Mississauga native) Josh Naylor.

Gurriel’s first double took off over Eddie Rosario’s head and bounced off the base of the wall in deep left, while his second was ripped on the ground, right down the line, and scored a pair.

In all, the Jays smacked a half-dozen two-baggers in Friday’s blowout win and all in significant spots, as only one of them didn’t drive in at least one run.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness