Two throwback starters and future first-ballot hall of famers, baseball’s biggest star in Shohei Ohtani on a night pitting two of the best teams in what some viewed as a potential World Series preview.
It all made for a sporting stage befitting Hollywood, by far the highest profiled and most anticipated game the Jays will play this season until the cauldron of October rolls around.
To add to the occasion, the Max Scherzer-Clayton Kershaw pitching duel was undoubtedly their final showdown, barring that is an actual Jays-Dodgers matchup in the Fall Classic.
Either way, Friday night at Chavez Ravine was not an ordinary game.
Above all else, the Jays were abundantly made aware that they were not playing the Colorado Rockies.
They were exposed to what playoff baseball is all about against the reigning champions, who have not been playing well.
The champs, though, would rise to the challenge, while the Jays understood, if they didn’t already know, how every little detail must be executed and how a bullpen can’t afford to issue late-game walks in a tight game.
The following are three takeaways from the opener of a three-game series L.A. won, 5-1, a night when Kevin Gausman would be ejected, even though he never pitched.
1. Max out
As if anyone needed a reminder of Scherzer’s competitive spirit and how he relishes the big stage, the first inning pretty much summed it up.
After giving up back-to-back hits, Scherzer recorded a strikeout and then watched as Davis Schneider made a great catch at the wall in left field.
A two-out walk loaded the bases to bring Teoscar Hernandez to the plate in the game’s first dramatic moment.
The one-time Blue Jay struck out swinging.
For Scherzer, four of his hardest pitches of the season were thrown in the first inning, when he needed 23 pitches.
What stood out the most was his unrelenting ability to battle.
Another rare quality the veteran possesses is how he unabashedly wears his emotion on his sleeve.
He knew he made a mistake in the fifth inning, allowing a two-run homer to Mookie Betts. Those were the lone runs Scherzer gave up in providing his team with six complete innings.
What he didn’t receive was offensive support.
2. Clayton curve
His out pitch was a lights out pitch Kershaw would summon, a looping curveball that was among baseball’s most lethal.
He faced Schneider to begin the game and went with a slider as Kershaw recorded his first strikeout.
Kershaw’s outing began quite impressively with his 11th and last pitch of the inning resulting in a called third strike when he faced Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
In the second, Bo Bichette recorded his MLB-leading 146th hit when he sent a soft ground ball into right field for a double.
Addison Barger’s one-out single plated Bichette as the Jays scored the game’s first run.
The Jays quickly realized Kershaw’s velocity wasn’t threatening, a big reason why they loaded the bases.
Much like Scherzer, Kershaw would benefit from a great defensive play, this one produced by Betts, who secured a liner and threw to second base for the force out to end Kershaw’s 22-pitch second inning.
Schneider led off the third with a single, the fifth hit Kershaw had surrendered on the night.
In the fourth, Kershaw gave up his second hit to Barger, but once again a double play aided Kershaw.
Daulton Varsho recorded his second hit off the left-hander to lead off the fifth inning.
Despite all the traffic he had to contend with, Kershaw gave the Dodgers six innings of one-run ball.
He gave up seven hits, but three were turned into double plays.
3. Sho Time
The big-time occasion was dotted with stars, but no star is as big in baseball as Ohtani.
Toronto won’t get a chance to face Ohtani the pitcher, but it will see plenty of the Japanese megastar at the plate.
He hits leadoff and had a sharply hit ball for a first-inning single.
Ohtani led off the third inning with the Dodgers trailing 1-0, but hit a weak groundout on an 0-2 count.
There was nothing weak on an Ohtani two-out double before Betts went deep for a two-run blast as the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead.
Betts hasn’t had his usual stellar season, but given the hype around the game a player of his ilk normally steps up, which he did on one swing.
Ohtani did have a three-hit night.
The Ohtani-Betts tandem combined for five hits and four runs.
Up next
The Blue Jays will once again oppose a lefty in Saturday’s 9:10 p.m. ET first pitch when Blake Snell is scheduled to make his second start following his extended injury absence (shoulder); against his former team, Snell went 5.0 innings and gave up five hits, but two left the minor-league ballpark in L.A.’s 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay; he struck out eight; the Jays are scheduled to start RHP Chris Bassitt, whose most recent start came against visiting K.C. when he gave up one run and one hit in 6.0 innings in a Toronto loss.