TORONTO - Six pitches into his second start as a Blue Jay, Brandon Morrow was in a fix.
The hard-throwing right-hander already had walked Kansas City leadoff man David DeJesus on four pitches. He found the plate with his first pitch to No. 2 hitter, Alberto Callaspo, then unleashed a wild pitch that ended up in the Blue Jays dugout, putting DeJesus on second and Toronto catcher Jose Molina on a slow stroll to the mound.
Molina huddled with Morrow for a moment, then patted his pitcher on the shoulder and went back to his position behind the plate. Now we’re not at all certain what the veteran catcher said. Maybe it was something so deep that it unlocked the secret of effective pitching for Morrow. Or maybe he said “Hey kid, your fly is open.”
“It was just a matter of getting him to calm down a little bit,” Molina said. “I know he was excited because of the things that he had been working on this week.”
Whatever it was, Morrow snapped to attention like a hound on the hunt.
He got out of the first with a pair of ground ball outs, then breezed through five innings before allowing his first hits and only run of the night, on his way to seven strong innings and an 8-1 victory.
Morrow allowed just three singles, walked a pair and struck out eight to rebound from an 11-1 shellacking at the hands of the Chicago White Sox in his Toronto debut last week.
“I made some adjustments this past week,” said Morrow, “dropping my arm angle just a bit and the ball was moving a lot more. Early on, I was trying to make the ball do too much but (after the wild pitch), I got into the stretch and started making better pitches.”
The Jays showed up with plenty of clout after a quiet weekend against the Angels. Jose Bautista belted a pair of home runs to account for five runs batted in, while Travis Snider hit his second homer of the season.
Snider’s home run gave Toronto a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning and Bautista’s first broke the game open at 5-0 in the fifth.
Morrow did not give up a hit until Royals shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt grounded a sharply-hit ball between third and short with one out and one on in the sixth. DeJesus then drove in KC’s only run with a single before Morrow got his feet back under him with a strikeout and a weak ground ball.
“He had some awesome bullpen sessions this week,” Molina said. “I think Bruce (Walton, the pitching coach) and Rick (Langford, the bullpen coach) helped get Brandon right where we want him. He was delivering the ball wherever I put my glove.”
Almost as important as Morrow’s breakthrough was the offensive show that featured Bautista, Snider and Lyle Overbay. By night’s end, Overbay had a little streak of five consecutive plate appearances reaching base, which can only help his confidence.
“I really hope he’s off and rolling,” manager Cito Gaston said. “We really need him.”
Bautista’s five RBI represented a career high but he was more excited about the breakthroughs of Overbay and Snider. Hopefully we can all start swinging the bat better.”
“That’s what is going to get us going,” Bautista said. “It was really nice to see Lyle and Travis. I can’t say I was seeing the ball better. I was just trying to be more aggressive.”
In addition to Snider, Bautista and Overbay, Mike McCoy keeps worming his way deeper into manager Cito Gaston’s heart.
“He does everything we ask. He plays the infield, all three outfield positions and he’s got a good arm. And I haven’t even talked about his speed, yet,” Gaston said.
ken.fidlin@sunmedia.ca
