Great leaping catch by Varsho, Turner dinger provide early game spark

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Two starts doesn’t make a career, but at the same time it’s starting to look like Yariel Rodriguez is the real deal.

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Toronto’s front office has taken plenty of heat from many corners pining for an upgrade at the plate.

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On the mound, the team’s pitching is as good as any in the show with the Cuban-born Rodriguez showing that he belongs.

For those critical of management, fans must also applaud its work for assembling a rotation that seems to be picking up steam.

No word has been mentioned as to how long Rodriguez will remain in the mix given he did not pitch professionally last season.

Perhaps he ends up in the bullpen at some point this season, but two starts into his Toronto tenure and Rodriguez has looked the part.

He mixed his pitches up well on Friday night against the host San Diego Padres in a Blue Jays 5-4 win and wasn’t shy in expressing his emotions following a strikeout. Rodriguez was supported by an offence that exploded early and a defence led by the velvet glove of Daulton Varsho.

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Four complete innings would be recorded by Rodriguez, who struck out seven and walked one.

Of the 83 pitches Rodriguez threw, he’d gladly take one back that went for a home run.

Overall, he was quite good in building off his first start.

The Padres generated three hits off Rodriguez, who made way for Bowden Francis when San Diego stepped up to the plate in the home half of the fifth.

Rodriguez emerged as the night’s primary storyline as the Blue Jays began a seven-game road trip.

The Jays’ first visit to idyllic Petco Park since 2013 could not have gone any better offensively, at least to begin the night.

In Toronto’s first two at-bats, five runs would be scored, including four in the second inning.

On a negative note, the Jays were shutout for the ensuing seven innings.

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Justin Turner, no stranger to the ballpark, knocked in two of the Jays’ runs.

The host Padres threatened in the home half of the second by having runners at second and third with one out.

Rodriguez induced a fly ball to shallow left field for the second out.

An inning-ending strikeout was the fourth on the night by Rodriguez, whose pitch count had reached 42.

In his MLB debut last Saturday against the visiting Colorado Rockies, Rodriguez went 3.2 innings, he threw 68 pitches.

San Diego finally inflicted damage when Fernando Tatis Jr. turned on a slider that caught way too much of the middle of the plate before depositing it deep into left field.

ONE FOR THE BOOKS

By the time Rodriguez made his way to the mound to begin his night, he was staked to a 1-0 lead.

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Turner produced the game’s opening salvo when he went deep with two outs and none on at a venue he’s quite familiar from his days with the L.A. Dodgers.

The night began with a bang as Rodriguez was pitted against knuckleballer Matt Waldron in a battle of right handers.

Toronto tweaked its lineup, featuring Bo Bichette in the lead-off spot with George Springer getting the night off, believed to be feeling under the weather.

Turner was in the No. 3 hole with Davis Schneider hitting cleanup and starting at second on the field.

Cavan Biggio started in right field, while batting seventh in the order.

In the home half of the first, Rodriguez was the beneficiary of a highlight reel catch by Varsho, who would produce the catch of the year, this early in the season that is.

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Mind you, it will be hard to replicate the catch Varsho made that denied Xander Bogaerts, San Diego’s lead-off hitter, of a home run.

Varsho made a full-out sprint on a ball hit into left-centre that seemed destined to clear the wall.

Instead, Varsho executed an impeccably timed leap to record the out.

Making the sequence even more memorable was how Varsho’s back caroomed off the wall.

Rodriguez showed his appreciation by looking toward Varsho and extending both of his arms in the air in acknowledging the play with ball cap in his right hand.

A walk to Tatis Jr. would follow.

Rodriguez would end the inning by striking out two, one looking when a fastball with movement caught the outside corner, the second on a swinging K.

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Rodriguez struck out Bogaerts on three pitches in the third inning.

TRACKING MANOAH

A rough start turned into a promising evening for Alek Manoah as he continues his road back to the big leagues by making rehab starts in the minors for the Jays’ triple-A affiliate.

Friday night in Columbus, the visiting Buffalo Bisons took a 1-0 lead in the game’s first at-bats before the homeside responded in the bottom of the first by plating a pair to take a 2-1 advantage.

Manoah would quickly find his groove and did not allow any additional runs, going 5.2 innings, while striking out five in a no decision.

During one stretch, the big righty recorded eight successive outs.

Manoah did not issue a walk.

He surrendered six hits, while yielding one home run.

Manoah threw 92 pitches, including 61 for strikes.

Orelvis Martinez was once again the offensive star for the Bisons as he continues to rake.

Martinez homered in each of his first two at-bats at Huntington Park after going deep Thursday.

In Buffalo’s 9-3 loss to the host Clippers, Martinez drove in all three of the Bisons’ runs and accounted for two of the team’s three hits.

Martinez has gone deep five times in five games.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com

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