They must have been afraid Trevor Bauer was going to throw a blood ball Monday night. I bet it would have had one helluva break thrown up to the plate. Either that or the Blue Jays feared the Indians — drawing first blood on a first-inning RBI double — really were out for blood.
Bauer's 10-stitched pinkie bled from the now-infamous injury he incurred while working on one of the flying drones that are among his off-field hobbies. His blood is liable to become baseball's most famous since that which seeped through Curt Schilling's ankle-sheath stitches during the 2004 Red Sox's surreal plunge back to the Promised Land.
When the umpires, at Jays manager John Gibbons's urging, inspected and then rejected Bauer in the bottom of the first in Monday evening's American League Championship Series Game 3, the Indians could only hope Bauer's blood proved the same sort of fortunate, actual-or-alleged curse-busting talisman Schilling's had over a decade earlier.
When Jays designated hitter Michael Saunders squared off against Bauer's relief Dan Otero to open the bottom of the second, hitting a 1-1 service over the left field fence, there may have been a few nervous Tribesmen in the dugout. But when Otero shook off a one-out single (Ezequiel Carrera) to throw a step-'n'-throw double play grounder to Ryan Goins, with Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor bobbling before recovering for a sharp play, they relaxed.
A little. Then, a little more, when Mike Napoli led off the top of the fourth with an 0-1 yank over the center field fence. Somehow, the Indians' bullpen not named Andrew Miller held its own, shaking off a hiccup here and there, and keeping the Jays from, if you'll pardon the expression, bleeding them further.
The specific rule on the Bauer wound is that the umps can't even think about removing him from the game unless the opposing manager brings it up. And someone in Bauer's position can't put a bandage on the wound. "So bandaids are a foreign substance not to be used to stop bleeding," tweeted Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. "But stitches ... those are fine."
Jays manager John Gibbons waited until his men had two out and two on in the bottom of the first to, ahem, stop the bleeding.
The Indians had a little more bleeding to stop when reliever Zach McAllister, who'd spelled Jeff Manship with one out in the Toronto fourth with two more swift enough outs, yielded Carrera's leadoff triple before Goins grounded him home post haste in the fifth.
Enter Bryan Shaw to keep the Jays to a mere single between the last two outs. Enter Jason Kipnis to hit a 2-2 leadoff service over the right field fence in the top of the sixth. And enter Napoli — after the Jays lifted stout starter Marcus Stroman following his walk to Napoli, for Joe Biagini — stealing second when Jays catcher Russell Martin hit his knees to handle a pitch, and scoring when Jose Ramirez ripped a single to right.
Kipnis, Napoli, and Ramirez showed up at the ballpark in dire need of stopping their own plate hemorrhaging. They opened Game 3 a combined 0-for-19 in the first two games.
Indians manager Terry Francona showed up with his own dire need no matter what did or didn't happen to Bauer: keep the game well enough in hand to spare him the prospect of putting Miller in danger of early work. His pen men kept the Jays to a pair of runs with five hits and only 4 strikeouts between them, two of them by Shaw.
Then he made sure Miller wouldn't have to work early. He sent Cody Allen, his closer, out in the seventh after Shaw surrendered a leadoff hit to Kevin Pillar. Essentially making Allen into Miller's setup man. With a breathless assist from left fielder Coco Crisp sliding into Josh Donaldson's line drive with first and second and two out to save a run at minimum while retiring the side.
Gibbons staying with Stroman long enough to face the top of the Indians' order a third time raised more than a few questions. Especially after As ESPN's David Schoenfeld blogged during the game, Stroman facing an opposing order the third time around was lit for 14 home runs on the regular season, compared to five the second time around and one the first time.
Then the clock struck Miller time and the left-hander nailed his four outs, rudely interrupted by a mere leadoff single by pinch hitter Dioner Navarro opening the bottom of the ninth, all four strikeouts except for Darwin Barney's shooter up the pipe speared deftly by Lindnor before the shortstop threw on the button to nip Barney by two steps.
And Jose Bautista, who amused while annoying a few Indians with his tweeting about the Indians getting more inside pitches called strikes than healthy, continued proving that, in this ALCS anyway, and with apologies to Bob Gibson, the only thing he knows about Indians pitching is that he can't hit it. Except for a third-inning single and a late-game walk, Bautista's ALCS futility has continued apace.
So has the Jays' bleeding all set long. Neither team is hitting particularly well this series, but the Indians managed to outscore the Jays 8-3 in the first three while the Indians bullpen, of course, might as well be the turnip out of which the Jays try squeezing blood.
If the Indians finish what they started in Game 4, Cleveland will be in stitches and Toronto will feel like it needs them.
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