‘That was awesome.’ Blue Jay Robbie Ray earns co-ace status after near no-no against the Rays

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/07/2021 (1592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fastball a tad too much in the batter’s wheelhouse. A determined swing that launched the ball flying toward the left-field bleachers. A guy reaching out instinctively over the wall — fan interference. Double. Because the ball would not have landed in the seats.

And Robbie Ray kissed his thrilling no-hit bid goodbye.

Could also have loosened his oh-so-tight pants around then, undone a button. Exhaled.

(Those form-hugging pants have their own Twitter account. Ray, tight-everything, biceps bulging, pecs straining against his jersey, could grace the cover of a Harlequin romance, a la Fabio.)

The Blue Jays lefty pitched a gem in Sunday’s matinee at the Trop. Into the seventh inning, he’d allowed only one Tampa Bay Ray to reach base, on a walk. That was Yandy Diaz, way back in the first inning. Then retired 17 hitters in a row. Struck out a career-high 11. Hot stuff dealing.

It was Diaz, too, with one out in the seventh, who broke up Ray’s no-no looming.

So, Dave Stieb remains the only Jay who’s ever thrown a no-hitter: Sept. 2, 1990, in Cleveland. We were there.

Tampa’s only run in Toronto’s 3-1 win, however, came off closer Jordan Romano in the ninth — a jack by Brandon Lowe, making it three homers for the outfielder in the weekend series, as the Jays averted a second sweep at the hands of their American League East rivals. Which is at least something to be going on with heading into the all-star break.

Of course Ray was thinking no-hitter. Everybody was.

“It was about, I don’t know, maybe the fifth inning where I was, like, OK, maybe this is a possibility,” the 29-year-old Tennessean said afterwards. “It’s kind of hard to say that you don’t feel that coming and you don’t notice it. Because you do.”

Teammates weren’t avoiding him in the dugout, as is traditionally the case when a starter is in no-hit Zen. Nor was he avoiding them, high-fiving players as he ran off the field between innings. Mostly talking to batterymate Danny Jansen, reviewing a game plan that was rolling along splendidly.

Jansen, who launched a solo home run in the second, certainly had no-hitter on the brain, even if the subject wasn’t raised with his pitcher. It was the deepest Jansen had ever caught a near-flawless moundsman performance.

“Oh man, Robbie Ray was brilliant today. He was attacking the zone — pitch one, each at-bat he’s getting ahead. Robbie has been on the attack all year, so it’s not too surprising to me that he got that far today, that close. Good rhythm, moving pitches in and out, up and down, and going to all four quadrants.”

Pounding the corners of the strike zone.

The sag, when Diaz connected, lasted hardly a nanosecond, said Jansen. After the double, Ray said to his catcher, “OK, let’s do it, this is what we’re going to do.”

Jansen: “And got right back in it.”

Adding: “Everybody wanted it for him, but that was close and that was awesome.”

Meanwhile, in the dugout, manager Charlie Montoyo was pondering how long he could let Ray continue. Across eight seasons in the majors, 173 starts prior to Sunday, Ray had only once before thrown a complete game. But surely there was no way the skipper would have pulled him on this afternoon, as long as the no-hitter was intact.

“I was thinking, I wonder how many pitches we’re going to let him throw. I was thinking 115 to 120.”

He threw 103, 71 for strikes. One walk, one hit. One delighted Ray. As opposed to grim-faced Rays. And a 45-42 record for Toronto.

“It just felt like my fastball was really good today. I felt like I was able to pretty much throw it where I wanted to. I was getting a lot of takes at the top of the zone as well as swing and missed.”

Of the lively but precisely located and controlled heater, Ray was justifiably impressed with himself. “Jano would call it and I would throw it into his glove. My misses, they were very, very small. And when I did miss, it wasn’t in a position where it could hurt me. I felt for the most part the fastball command was on point.”

It was exactly what the Jays needed at the halfway point of a season — the all-star game a schedule divide — that has pinballed from promising to disappointing: plenty of exhilarating highs with offensive pyrotechnics from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette folded around devastating (though not mentally deflating) lows, particularly 19 losses racked up by a wayward bullpen, following a sturdy first month.

The starting rotation has been … OK, just OK. Putative ace Hyun-Jin Ryu has actually just had his worst career month ever. Which, frankly, elevates Ray to co-ace status and is why he might be on the bump, said Montoyo, when the season resumes in Texas on Friday. He’s had a dandy first half at 7-4 with a 3.13 ERA and peaking. Those 11 punchouts marked his fifth game this year with double-digit Ks. He’d entered this start with nine strikeouts or more in eight games, tied for second most in the majors behind only the Mets’ Jacob deGrom.

“Good teams have more than one,” said Montoyo. Aces. “And Robbie Ray is becoming that. The way Robbie’s pitching now, we have more than one for sure.”

Ray was the first free agent re-signed by Toronto last November, for one year at $8 million (U.S.).

“We knew he had a chance to be that guy,” said Montoyo. “That’s why we signed him early. But what he’s done has been above what we thought he was going to do. He’s an all-star, deserved a chance to go to the all-star game.”

Just as happy, shrugged Ray, to spend the break with his family, take one day off, then “get back at her,” channelling his inner Mike Babcock.

Ray credits his first-strike percentage as a game-changer.

“I feel really strong, my body feels great, my arm feels great. Mechanics are on time. So I’m just looking to keep it rolling, build like I have all season so far.”

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Jen Zoratti | Next

Wednesdays

What's next in arts, life and pop culture.

Sign up for Jen Zoratti | Next

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Toronto’s bats weren’t terribly muscular, with a modest half-dozen hits. Utility infielder Santiago Espinal was responsible for half of them. He raised his batting average to .321 in 50 games and, as the better defender, one really does have to question why Espinal isn’t starting at third more often, rather than Cavan Biggio.

In a pre-game Zoom session with reporters, Espinal explained that he’d received hitting advice from teammate George Springer and even, during an earlier series, Houston’s Jose Altuve.

“He watched my BP, then he told me to fix a couple of things. Told me that I was opening up a lot on my hips. Told me to stay closed, trust your hands, trust your mind and just go from that.”

Presumably no tips on cheating and rubbish-bin banging, though.

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