The Blue Jays must have felt like the weakened villain at the end of a superhero movie who’s getting absolutely pummeled. Hulk/Loki at the end of The Avengers comes to mind. They may have landed the first blow, a leadoff homer from George Springer, but that was the last punch the Blue Jays landed the whole game.
Otherwise, they were just getting pummeled.
In the bottom of the first, the Blue Jays pitching coach was ejected before Max Scherzer even recorded an out. Scherzer himself did not last the whole inning. Rookie Carter Jensen slapped a line drive leadoff double the other way to start the destruction. Bobby Witt Jr hit a grounder just past the diving third baseman and brought in Jensen. Witt stole second, but he ended up not really needing to. Vinnie took a high and outside pitch the other way for a double down the left field line. Witt would have scored from first easily, in my opinion. Garcia worked a walk from a 1-2 count, and that’s where the Blue Jays got a bit angry. The 3-2 pitch to Garcia was right on the edge but was called a ball. The pitching coach came out for a mound visit to talk to Scherzer, and while he was doing that the home plate umpire came out to break up the meeting. He did not like something that the coach said and tossed him out.
The hits just kept coming anyway.
Salvador Perez reached down and golfed a three-run homer to right-center field, his 30th of the season. In the blink of an eye, it was 5-1 and Scherzer still hadn’t recorded an out.
Adam Frazier got a bit of luck – he blooped a little fly ball into shallow right field and broke his bat – but no fielder could get to it in time. He was credited with a single. Then, finally, mercifully, Scherzer struck out Cags for his first out. But he did not get much of a break. Michael Massey was not fooled by a 1-2 curveball and homered to right field for a 7-1 lead. The Royals batted around after John Rave struck out. Jensen golfed a ball to straight-up center field and it somehow managed to bounce over the wall for a ground-rule double. Look, that’s a tall fence. It’s really hard to hit a ground rule double in Kauffman, especially to straight center field. Wow. And that’s what knocked out Scherzer. Witt ended the inning with a groundout, but the Royals emerged with a 7-1 lead and already facing the Blue Jays bullpen early on in the series.
The Royals came back for more in the third inning. Cags led off with a walk (after being down 0-2!) on another borderline pitch, but the pitching coach was already ejected and John Schneider was prepping to be interviewed by the Apple TV+ broadcast. His face looked pretty red…dude was holding back in that interview I think. Massey was not fooled by another curveball and laced a double down the right field line. Already hitting for the third time this game, Carter Jensen hit *another* opposite field line drive into the gap to score both Cags and Massey to make it 9-1. Vinnie put a grounder just in the right spot for a single and scored Jensen. 10-1. 10-1!
The Royals nearly scored more in the fifth, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Perez flied out. In the sixth, John Schneider could no longer stomach the strike zone. John Rave had a 2-2 count and checked his swing. It seemed like a pretty clear no swing to me, but Schneider wanted to discuss the call with the third base umpire. The discussion was relatively tame, but after the discussion it was revealed that he had been ejected prior to coming out of the dugout. I think. The Royals did not score, but at this point the Blue Jays had more coaches ejected than runs.
The Royals were not done scoring, though. In the seventh inning, the Blue Jays brought in the aforementioned Heineman to pitch. Witt singled to lead off. Grichuk singled. Tolbert grounded out but got a runner over. Luke Maile hit a single to center to score the 11th run. With a backup catcher essentially throwing batting practice, Jac Caglianone, who up to this point had struck out a bunch and missed out, must have been salivating. He got a 54mph eephus thing and blasted it beyond the right-center wall. With that three-run homer, he pushed the score to 14-1.
The Royals were STILL not done scoring though! Choosing to save their bullpen, the Blue Jays kept Heineman out there for the eighth. He was throwing some of the most beer league softball pitches I’ve ever seen. Jonathan India singled on a 45mph pitch. FORTY-FIVE mph! A rainbow! Zack Greinke is jealous. With this junk coming at them, the Royals just kept swinging. Single by India. Single by Grichuk. Single by Tolbert. Double by Maile (scoring two runs). Single by Frazier (17-1). Single by Cags (18-1). Single by Massey (19-1). And, finally, a single from John Rave pushed it to 20-1. At that point, the Blue Jays finally did something and put in Isiah Kiner-Falefa to pitch, who got the last two outs to end the beating. Heineman looked absolutely done. I don’t think there was ever a position player pitching who looked more done than that guy when they finally took him out.
Oh, also Michael Lorenzen pitched 7 and 2/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball. After that leadoff home run, I don’t think he was ever threatened again. Luinder Avila finished the game off for him. Of course Lorenzen got a standing ovation after coming out in the eighth.
But really…the story was the offense. The strike zone may have pissed off the Blue Jays coaches to the point of ejection, but this was just one of those games. The Royals were pounding the ball all directions to where the defense wasn’t.
The Royals finished with 27 hits and 20 runs. Maikel Garcia was the only position player who played this game without a hit, but he did have two walks. Cags had four RBIs. Massey, Maile, and Perez each had three RBIs. Leadoff hitter Jensen had seven plate appearances! I realize half the offense came against a backup catcher who looked like he wished he was anywhere else than on the mound. But still. All 20 runs count. I know there are some people out there who are against position players pitching more frequently because of situations just like this.
But you know what? I don’t care. As a fan, after this late-season swoon put them out of contention, this was nice to watch.
They’ll play again Saturday at 6:10pm US Central.
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