CLEVELAND – Destination: Buffalo.
But the Toronto Blue Jays' return to Western New York late Sunday came in the aftermath of a major head-scratcher at Progressive Field.
The Jays cruised to a 4-1 victory over over the Cleveland Indians in the opener of a doubleheader and were up 4-0 through five innings of the nightcap as Steven Matz was working a one-hit shutout. A 5-1 road trip seemed imminent. Bring on the Miami Marlins on Tuesday before the first baseball crowd in Buffalo in 21 months.
But after 12 dominant innings, chaos ensued in the final two frames to damage the day.
Following an error on a routine grounder by third baseman Santiago Espinal leading off the sixth, Matz gave up three straight hits and reliver Tyler Chatwood couldn't close the door as the Indians forged a 4-4 tie. Marcus Semien's RBI single in the top of the seventh put the Blue Jays back in front. But in the bottom of the inning, Chatwood wouldn't have been able to find Lake Erie with a pitch had he been sitting in a boat.
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Chatwood walked four straight hitters to push across the tying run and manager Charlie Montoyo mercifully had to get him off the mound for his own good. It didn't stop the inevitable. Jose Ramirez's sacrifice fly to right off reliever Anthony Castro drove home Bradley Zimmer with the winning run as the Tribe pulled out a stunning 6-5 victory.
The games are expected to provide a jolt of economic activity and foot traffic, more than a year after so many employees left their downtown offices to work from home.
Instead of being on a major roll, the Jays hit Sahlen Field for Tuesday night's opener at Washington and Swan against Miami still pondering major questions about their bullpen.
Chatwood's troubles are at the top of the list. He gave up just one run and walked only five batters in his first 16 outings this season. But in his last three games covering 3 1/3 innings, he's given up six runs and walked nine. He threw 32 pitches Sunday -- and a measly seven went for strikes as he walked five in 1 1/3 innings.
"For us to be good, Chatwood needs to do the job," Montoyo said of the 31-year-old. "He needs to be the reliever that he has been. So you've got to give him the chance to regroup and do the job, get a double play ball or something. He just couldn't do it. ... He was our best reliever for the first two months and he just needs to get it back."
Montoyo's mistake wasn't necessarily using Chatwood, as much as it was not having Castro warming up behind him. It was three batters into the seventh before the Toronto pen started to stir. Much too late.
"You've got to trust somebody one time and let him get out of trouble," Montoyo said.
The Espinal error and Chatwood's implosion prevented the Jays from moving just a half-game behind the slumping New York Yankees. And while the Jays will be hosting the Marlins and Houston Astros this week to open their second summer in Buffalo, the Yankees will be playing seven games against the Tampa Bay Rays – who are 21-6 in May – and the Boston Red Sox.
"It was frustrating. My stuff felt good today and I was cruising," Matz said. "A couple of hits here and there and kind of got snakebit right there. ... You just want to cruise and have a happy flight home with the sweep."
"That's how the big leagues go sometimes: Other teams battle and fight just like we do," Semien said. "Of course, we'd like to have that one back. But I've said it once and I'll say it again, that it's hard to finish a big-league game."
The Blue Jays took the opener as Teoscar Hernandez and Rowdy Tellez homered and starter Ross Stripling went five innings to earn his first Toronto win. Hernandez's three-run double in the third inning of the nightcap staked Matz to his early lead.
With the Canadian border still shut tight, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be back at Sahlen Field with the Toronto Blue Jays, starting Tuesday. We don't know yet, but maybe it's for the entire summer.
The Blue Jays are starting veteran lefty Robbie Ray (2-2, 3.81) in Tuesday's opener, with rookie Alek Manoah getting his second MLB start on Wednesday after blanking the Yankees for six innings Thursday in the Bronx. Meanwhile, Marlins manager Don Mattingly announced Sunday that his two starters in Buffalo will be Sandy Alcantara (2-4, 3.46) and Pablo Lopez (1-3, 2.71).
Many players are expected to straggle over to Sahlen Field on Monday to check out the numerous improvements to the park, where the Jays went 17-9 last season. Montoyo was even hoping to steal a look late Sunday.
"Hopefully, it'll become more of a homefield advantage because it wasn't in Dunedin," Montoyo said of the Jays' 10-11 home record in their spring training stadium over the first two months. "Every team we played, they had more fans than we did. So hopefully it will become more of a home and be more comfortable for our players to play."
