The Canadian Press
John Chidley-Hill
TORONTO–As Marcus Stroman strode across the third-base line and headed toward the Blue Jays’ dugout, he looked up at the fans giving him a standing ovation and pounded his chest.
He then clapped into his glove and shouted to the Toronto fans, egging them on.
Stroman earned the cheers from the crowd of 38,847 at Rogers Centre last night by striking out eight over 7 2/3 scoreless innings as the Jays shut out the Baltimore Orioles 4-0.
“I love this city, I love pitching in Toronto,” Stroman said in the clubhouse after the game.
“From the second I walk out of the dugout to go warm up, the entire crowd is up and clapping and cheering.
“I feed off them, I feed off their energy,” he added.
“So whenever I see that, it only makes me want to be better for them.”
Stroman (8-4) allowed only five hits and issued one walk–even though he threw a career-high 119 pitches.
Despite the heavy workload, he still had five two-seam fastballs hit 94 m.p.h. or higher in the eighth inning.
A sixth pitch was clocked at 93.9.
“I work extremely hard in between starts to put my body in position where I’m able to go deep into games and maintain velocity,” noted Stroman.
“My body feels great,” he stressed. “I feel like I could’ve gone another inning, two innings.
“I feel great where I’m at right now.”
Jose Bautista and Justin Smoak both hit solo home runs to give Toronto (37-40) an early 2-0 lead.
Bautista drove in another run and set up an unearned run with a fielder’s choice in the fourth.
Relievers Danny Barnes and Roberto Osuna closed out the game for the Jays, who pulled within a game of the Orioles for fourth place in the American League East.
Toronto now is 3.5 games out of the second wild card spot in the AL while Baltimore is 2.5 out.
“I thought Stroman got stronger as the game went on,” said Jays’ manager John Gibbons.
“We needed that. We needed that game desperately,” he stressed.
Wade Miley (3-6) gave up four runs (three earned) and struck out five over five innings as Baltimore (38-39) had its three-game win streak snapped.
Alec Asher pitched three innings of relief.
Bautista led off the game in the first inning with a rare home run to right field–backing Seth Smith up to the wall for a 1-0 lead.
He hadn’t hit a home run to the opposite field since Sept. 12, 2015 in a 12-5 victory over the N.Y. Yankees.
Smoak added to Toronto’s lead with a shot to dead centre in the fourth.
It was Smoak’s 21st of the season–a new career high for the eight-year veteran.
“It’s great, but more importantly we won the game tonight,” said Smoak.
“You always want to beat career highs and I was able to do that tonight.”
Bautista piled on later in the fourth. With the bases loaded, he hit a sharp grounder to Baltimore shortstop Paul Janish, who flipped the ball to second.
However, second base umpire Ted Barrett ruled Kevin Pillar safe and Jonathan Schoop’s throw to first pulled Trey Mancini off the base, letting Bautista reach safely.
The ball rolled out from under Mancini, allowing Steve Pearce to score from third to make it 4-0.
Barnes gave up a walk but then fanned Schoop to end the eighth.
Osuna, who recently admitted to the media that he’s struggling with anxiety off the field but feels better when pitching, drew a warm round of applause as he came out of the bullpen to start the ninth.
He struck out Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, and Mancini in quick succession to close out the game.
“[Osuna] got a great reception,” said Gibbons.
“I don’t see anything wrong with him, he looks comfortable out there on the mound, but I think he told everybody that.”
Elsewhere in the AL, Minnesota beat Boston 4-1, New York bombed Chicago 12-3, Cleveland downed Texas 5-3, Kansas City dumped Detroit 8-2, and Houston topped Oakland 11-8.
Over in the NL, Washington doubled Chicago 8-4, San Francisco beat Colorado 5-3, Cincinnati edged Milwaukee 4-3, New York blanked Miami 8-0, St. Louis nipped Arizona 4-3, and San Diego upended Atlanta 7-4.
Philadelphia topped Seattle 5-4, Pittsburgh beat Tampa Bay 6-2, and the L.A. Angels edged the L.A. Dodgers 3-2 in interleague play.
