Blue Jays takeaways: A deep bullpen ends the Angels’ fun in the sun to help Toronto split a doubleheader

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This article was published 10/08/2021 (1564 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ doubleheader split in Anaheim on Tuesday:

The Blue Jays became the first major-league team in the modern era to play a home game in four different cities when they took the field at Angels Stadium for the first game of their doubleheader. It was a makeup game for a rained-out affair on April 11 in Dunedin, Fla., and instead of forcing the Angels to travel cross-country on an off-day, they just decided to play it at the beginning of what had been a scheduled three-game series this week on the West Coast.

The visitors won both games, with the Angels taking the opener, 6-3, and the Jays grabbing the nightcap, 4-0.

With home games in Dunedin, Buffalo, Toronto and now Anaheim, the Jays have batted last in four different ballparks this year. The 1902 Cleveland Bronchos (yes, that’s how they spelled it) played in five different home ballparks, but in only two cities — Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.

• That California sun: A key moment in the opener came in the top of the fifth inning. With two on and two out and the Jays down by a run, Steven Matz was lifted and, curiously, Trent Thornton got the call to come in and face Angels rookie Jo Adell.

Thornton was called up as the Jays’ 27th player for the doubleheader — and the bullpen was rested after an off-day Monday — which made it odd that he would be the choice in a big spot late in a one-run game. (Remember, it was a seven-inning game.) But Thornton did his job by coaxing a pop-up out of Adell.

As soon as the ball came off the bat, though, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put his bare hand up in front of his eyes — even though he had sunglasses on — to try to shield away the sun. He didn’t pick up the ball, which was hit almost directly over first base. Guerrero backed up and turned his body completely around trying to find the baseball, but he didn’t see it until the last second and the ball dropped harmlessly beside him. Both runners scored.

• Getting even: Guerrero didn’t wait long to make up for losing that pop fly. He came to the plate in the first inning of the nightcap with George Springer standing at second after a leadoff double. On the first pitch he saw, Guerrero hit a little flare into short right field — beating the Angels’ shift — for an RBI single. The run was the only one the Blue Jays would need to win Game 2.

The young slugger got his team an insurance run a couple of batters later, scoring from second on Teoscar Hernandez’ dying quail to right. Outfielder Adam Eaton tried to deke Guerrero into thinking he was going to make the catch, but the Jays star wasn’t buying it. He read the ball perfectly off the bat and scored easily.

• Out after out: Ross Stripling started the nightcap and was in immediate trouble, giving up a leadoff triple in the first inning to Shohei Ohtani. But with the Jays’ lead in danger of being cut in half, at least, Stripling got to work, getting David Fletcher ona fly to shallow right, Phil Gosselin on a line drive to second, and Eaton on a pop-up to short.

Stripling stranded a second-inning walk and was looking awfully sharp, but couldn’t start the third inning because of left abdominal discomfort. So the bullpen took over.

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Trevor Richards an Adam Cimber each threw two hitless innings, with Cimber only throwing 17 pitches to get his six outs, and Jordan Romano finished up the seven-inning game. Romano gave up two hits, including a one-out single to Brandon Marsh that was the first Angels hit in a span of 23 batters.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness