Chicago White Sox's Yoan Moncada is out at the plate as Toronto Blue Jays catcher Luke Maile makes the tag in the seventh inning of a game in Toronto, on April 3, 2018.Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press
Think the hometown fans were not just a bit hyped – or maybe relieved is a more apt way of phrasing it – about Josh Donaldson’s return to the field to play third base for the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night?
When Yoan Moncada stroked a grounder just foul to lead off the game for the Chicago White Sox, Donaldson gloved the ball and made an effortless throw across the field to first baseman Justin Smoak, even though he didn’t have to.
And many of the 17,500 or so who bothered to show up for the game at Rogers Centre actually cheered in response to the non-play, viewing it as an indication of good news.
It is a testament to just how fragile the collective psyche of the Blue Jays fan is this year.
They realize that anything less than a healthy Donaldson over the long haul of the 2018 season will make the already difficult journey to the postseason even more tenuous.
With Donaldson back at his normal post after a four-game respite as designated hitter to help soothe a lingering throwing wing, the Blue Jays churned to a 14-5 victory over the White Sox.
After dropping the first two games of the season to the New York Yankees, which cloaked the club in uncertainty, the Blue Jays (4-2) have stormed back to win four in a row, including two straight over a rebuilding White Sox outfit (2-2).
Aledmys Diaz, the new recruit who is so far filling in admirably at shortstop for the injured Troy Tulowitzki, was swinging a hot bat.
Diaz went 3-for-3, including a two-run home run in the three-run Toronto third inning that moved the Blue Jays in front 3-1. He also doubled home another run in the three-run Toronto fourth that helped increase the home side’s advantage to 6-2.
The bad news is that Diaz left the game after six innings with back spasms.
Donaldson also showed he is getting into the early swing of things during that fourth-inning uprising, clubbing a two-run home run of his own – the second in as many games. He also drove in three of the Toronto runs.
Of the 33 runs Toronto has scored in the first six games of the season, 17 have come via the long ball.
Donaldson’s self-described dead-arm issue first surfaced in the first game of the regular season on Thursday against the Yankees and resulted in him pulling DH duties.
And he said the process of regaining the strength in his throwing arm went better than he expected.
“It was kind of one of those [injuries] where I didn’t know,” he said following Monday’s game. “All spring training it was kind of hanging around and it would kind of go away and kind of come back and go away and come back.
“I think they were very smart by just allowing me to have a few days off, try to get through some scheduled maintenance to it.”
Catcher Russell Martin, who hit the big two-run home run that lifted the Blue Jays in front for good in Monday’s 4-2 win in the series opener, was not in the starting lineup.
Instead, Luke Maile got the start behind the plate for the second time this season and the normally light-hitting catcher came through. He had two doubles, the first leading off the third inning, where he would score the first Toronto run that levelled the game at 1-1.
Devon Travis was also rested with Yangervis Solarte, who covered for Donaldson at third during his absence, moving across the field to play second.
The change of scenery did not affect Solarte’s bat as he chipped in with a couple of hits, including a double in the second inning.
Toronto starter J.A. Happ (1-1) got the win, but he has looked sharper.
The lefty was knocked around for four of the White Sox runs off seven hits over 5.1 innings, including solo home runs by Tim Anderson and Avisail Garcia. He did have nine strikeouts, four of them looking.
Any doubts that Donaldson’s arm was causing him any concerns defensively were put to rest in the in the Chicago fifth. That’s when he bolted forward to make a difficult short-hop stab off a ball stroked by Moncada, making a strong, accurate throw to first for the out.
Donaldson did make a one-hop throw to first in the seventh inning that Smoak did a nice job of digging out of the dirt just in time to nip Garcia.
Chicago’s Yolmer Sanchez homered off reliever Tyler Clippard in the top of the eighth to cut Toronto’s lead to 7-5. But Toronto smothered Chicago with seven more in the inning’s bottom half to seal things.
Vancouver Canucks forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin announced Monday they will retire after 17 seasons with the team. Daniel Sedin says life after the NHL will be different but adds they are “happy” with the decision.
The Canadian Press