Toronto fans hoped Shohei Ohtani would be a Blue Jay. Instead, they must settle for a three-game visit by the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning Friday night to see the slugger.
There were rumors in December that Ohtani would sign as a free agent with the Blue Jays. There were even false reports that he was on a private jet bound for Toronto.
Blue Jays fans’ dream was short-lived when Ohtani signed with the Dodgers.
He arrives in Toronto with a .358 batting average, six home runs, 16 RBIs and five stolen bases for the Dodgers, who are on a four-game winning streak.
“I was as surprised as any fan, in terms of news that was going around,” Ohtani said this week in Washington of the reports regarding his alleged trip to Toronto. “But I did meet with the Blue Jays organization. The impression that I got was that it was a really, really great organization. The fans are really good, too. Love the city, too. So I’m really looking forward to going to Toronto.”
The Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals 2-1 Thursday afternoon to complete a three-game series sweep that opened a nine-game road trip.
The Blue Jays are returning from a 3-4 road trip after losing 2-1 to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon in a rain-shortened game. Toronto won the opener of the four-game series before dropping the next three.
The Dodgers are scheduled to start right-hander Gavin Stone (1-1, 6.00 ERA) on Friday. He has never faced Toronto.
The Blue Jays are scheduled to go with right-hander Chris Bassitt (2-3, 3.90). Bassitt is 1-2 with a 4.30 ERA in four career starts against Los Angeles.
The Dodgers, in their Thursday win, got six scoreless innings from right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another big offseason signing.
The key to his best start with his new team was fastball command, which had been a problem.
Former Blue Jay Teoscar Hernandez hit a second-inning homer for the only run against Yamamoto, who struck out seven and allowed one walk and four hits.
“I saw his fastball in the bullpen today and I thought it was going to be a good day,” catcher Austin Barnes said postgame. “I thought he located it well and (was) driving it through me. He had the hitters kind of in-between timing. You can’t really sit soft because you have to respect the fastball.”
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays’ game in Kansas City was called after five innings following a rain delay of 3 hours, 38 minutes.
Toronto’s Jose Berrios fell to 4-1 on the season, with a two-run homer by Salvador Perez in the first inning making the difference. Berrios pitched all five innings.
“The entire day was handled kind of poorly,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “In my opinion, the field was significantly better (in the early evening) than it was in the third, fourth and fifth innings.”
Schneider said that Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette “fielded a ball through a lake” to end the fifth inning.
“You don’t want to get anybody hurt,” the manager added. “We obviously wanted to play and if it was deemed playable we would have loved to continue to play, but the league and the umpires, they don’t want to have anyone injured on their watch.”
Toronto recalled left-hander Brendon Little from Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday and put right-hander Bowden Francis (right forearm extensor tendinitis) on the injured list.
–Field Level Media
