TORONTO Right around the time Marcus Semiens OPS dropped to a season-low .595 after an 0-fer April 20 at Fenway Park, an old Toronto Blue Jays foe reached out to the star infielder. Mark Trumbo had been watching and noticed that Semiens bat path weaved in and out of the zone when he offered at sliders. The former Baltimore Orioles slugger suggested a tee-drill to help level out the swing and its now part of Semiens regimented pre-game routine.
It’s something that keeps my swing through the strike zone longer, he explained.
Another key element of that routine, which helped Semien earn player of the month honours in May, is hitting off the high-speed pitching machine before each game, something hes doing more than I ever have because the velocity (in the game) is through the roof, he said. I try to just battle off the thing because if you can hit that thing, then you should be OK in the game. We have a good pitching machine that throws good fastballs, breaking balls, and you just learn how to hit it, try and take that swing into the game. It takes a lot of reps, but it’s something that a lot of hitters do now to combat the high-velocity and high-spin.
Sometimes, though, theres no preparation to counter a pitcher executing his game plan the way Zack Greinke did in the Houston Astros 13-1 thumping of the Blue Jays on Friday night.
The 37-year-old right-hander, lacking the elite velocity of his younger self, hit his spots with a fastball that averaged 89.9 m.p.h., mixing in a changeup, a slider, a curveball he tossed in as low as 68.2 m.p.h., and a sinker during a complete-game gem.
He surrendered 11 balls off the bat at 95.6 m.p.h. or harder six of them over 100 but only four resulted in hits, including Randal Grichuks homer in the seventh.
By that point, the Astros were well into cruise control having busted open a close game on Martin Maldonados sixth-inning grand slam off Hyun-Jin Ryu that made it 7-0. That ended the ace leftys night after he allowed more runs in 5.2 innings than he had in his previous four starts combined (five runs in 25.2 innings).
The Astros eked out a run in the fourth on a Yordan Alvarez RBI double, and then added two more in the fifth when Jose Altuves sac fly brought home Myles Straw and Carlos Correa hooked a changeup over the left-field wall the Houston hitters capitalized on.
It seemed like I was hanging a lot of my stuff over the plate, Ryu said through interpreter J.S. Park, pointing to his changeup and cutter in particular. And the opposing hitters, they’ve been very aggressive, trying to hit early in the count. I think that’s what resulted in today’s game.
Maldonados slam also came on a changeup that was sent packing to the left, followed by homers from Aledmys Diaz in the seventh off Carl Edwards Jr., and Correa again in the eighth off a struggling Tyler Chatwood, who faced six batters, allowed five runs and didnt record an out.
Chatwood has had several days off since failing to close out a May 23 game against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he was pulled up 4-3 with two outs in the ninth after loading the bases. Travis Bergen proceeded to walk in three runs in the loss and while Chatwood rebounded two days later against the Yankees, he walked five in 1.1 innings May 30 while failing to lock down another tough loss to Cleveland.
He wanted to pitch, he wanted to go out there because he knows the only way he can get out of the funk that he’s in is pitching, said manager Charlie Montoyo. He said he wanted to pitch (Friday) and that’s why he was in there. Good thing that we did because he needs to keep working. But his stuff is still there, he’s still throwing 96-97, just the command is not there. He’s throwing the ball everywhere. We’re hoping he can get it back.
The Blue Jays havent lost in such decisive fashion since the Astros spanked them 10-4 back in Houston on May 7, and they had responded to a six-game losing streak May 19-24 by going 6-2 in their next eight games.
Better pitching was a hallmark of that run but Ryu hit a rare speedbump and some worrisome bullpen trends re-emerged. The offence went quiet, too, but thats going to happen on occasion and Greinke deserves credit for making it a bad night all around for the Blue Jays.
If you’re playing good defence consistently, you’re probably going to be in more games because you’re not giving away runs, Semien said. If you put the ball in play more, you’re probably going to be in more games because you’re giving yourself a chance to get on base. And of course, as a pitcher, if you’re throwing strikes and limiting your walks, as well, those are three things that if you did every night, you’d probably win 100 games at least every year. But you go through stretches where things are a little off. If you can get back on track as quick as possible, that’s where you see the good teams.
The Blue Jays didnt do much of the three on Friday night, and it showed in the result.
