TORONTO -- Do you remember what Rogers Centre feels like when the Blue Jays get on a roll against a division rival? Do you remember what it sounds like when fans are banging on the padded wall in the first row and jeering at the opposing pitcher?
The Blue Jays have been home for over a week now, but the party is raging on. And on the first night of a pivotal series against the Red Sox, that party found its crescendo in a raucous, game-tilting fifth inning of a 12-4 Toronto victory that extended the club's winning streak to four games.
“It might be the best that I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Randal Grichuk, a Blue Jay since 2018, of the ballpark’s atmosphere. “And the crazy thing is [that] it’s only 15,000 fans, I believe. So that just goes to show that the fans are into it, they’re bringing the energy and we feel it.
“It got loud, and we love that. That pumps us up. We feel it and see it. We hope they let more in, but if not, the [fans] are bringing it.”
Toronto trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth, with the bottom-third of its lineup due up. Much attention (and awe) is paid to the star-studded top of the Blue Jays’ order, but Friday’s rally started from the bottom.
Alejandro Kirk, Grichuk and Breyvic Valera all connected on two-strike doubles in succession. Boston starter Nathan Eovaldi bounced back to retire George Springer and Marcus Semien (with an intentional walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sandwiched in between), but that’s when the fun really started.
Bo Bichette stung a two-strike single off the wall in right field, scoring one. Teoscar Hernández doubled on the very next pitch, scoring two more. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then homered to shallow left on the first pitch he saw, chasing Eovaldi from the game and giving the riled-up fans an extra jolt.
“It was electric, man,” starting pitcher Alek Manoah said. “I can only imagine what 50,000 in here is gonna feel like.”
Even with a capacity limit, and even with Rogers Centre’s open dome allowing much of the sound to escape, the crowd of 14,719 did plenty to make itself heard.
And they’d soon have another reason to sound off.
Kirk singled on the first pitch from Hansel Robles, and Robles’s second pitch hit Grichuk in the elbow. During the next at-bat, a few Blue Jays -- including Manoah -- voiced their displeasure with Robles from the dugout. As fans sparked a “Boston sucks!” chant, the umpires issued warnings to both benches.
“We put up a seven-spot and a guy gets hit pretty hard,” said Manoah, recalling the moment of tension. “So just gotta have your teammate’s back, man. Whether we thought it was intentional, whether it was intentional or not, that doesn’t even matter. There’s only one person that truly knows, and that’s the other pitcher. … We know [it’s] the heat of the moment, but, at the same time, we’ve got our guy’s back no matter what.”
Two batters later, after Springer capped the scoring with a two-run double, the inning was finally over. All told, Toronto tallied nine runs on nine hits (including five doubles and a home run), plus a walk and a hit-by-pitch. There were 3 1/2 innings left to play, but by then the game was effectively over.
Lost in the shuffle of Toronto’s explosive fifth inning is the fact that Boston nearly had an outburst of its own in the top half. Manoah left the bases loaded when he got J.D. Martinez to pop up on the infield, keeping the Blue Jays in position to strike.
And boy, did they strike. Hard.
While the Blue Jays were scoring, their home fans were roaring -- just like it’s supposed to be. A true home-field advantage has evaded Toronto for nearly two calendar years, and now that it’s back the team is reminded of what it's been missing.
“That’s how the other teams feel,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “Like, when you’re in Boston, that’s how loud it gets. That’s why I’m telling you, it’s been fun coming back here. Because you feel it.”