Russell Martin #55 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates after scoring during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on April 30, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio.Jason Miller/Getty Images
It marked a showdown of the cellar-dwellers, two teams that had set far loftier goals this season but are still awaiting liftoff.
In one corner, the Cleveland Indians, projected by Sports Illustrated before the season started as the team most likely to succeed and win the World Series.
Believers of the old S.I. jinx are taking note of Cleveland's current misery, mired in last place in the American League Central after losing 13 of its first 20 games.
In the other corner – somewhat uncertainly – the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays, with the off-season additions of catcher Russell Martin, third baseman Josh Donaldson and left fielder Michael Saunders, felt confident they now had the means for a long and fruitful run in 2015.
Atrocious pitching, combined with injuries to key personnel and the Blue Jays found themselves looking up from the bottom of a tightly packed AL East as they pulled into Progressive Field for the first of a four-game tilt on Thursday night.
While Toronto did not get the start it was hoping for from rookie Daniel Norris, the major league's top offence was there to pick up the pieces once again, as the Blue Jays (11-12) rolled to a 5-1 win on a chilly, drizzly night in Cleveland.
Reliever Jeff Francis (1-0) got the win for 21/3 innings of work, in which he allowed the lone Cleveland run off three hits.
The season is only one month old, so there is plenty of time for both teams to regroup, especially for the Blue Jays and their youthful pitchers, who are still struggling to find their big-league footing.
Still, Toronto manager John Gibbons expressed distaste for his team's start.
"We're a couple games below .500," Gibbons said before the game. "At this stage, you look at what the rest of the division is doing and that's not terrible. But still, that's not good enough for us, I don't think.
"We've let a few games slip away, could have made a big difference. Going in you do understand with some young guys, they're going to have some rough outings every now and then. It's been that way in baseball forever."
Gibbons, especially, was looking for better things from Norris on Thursday night after the strides the 22-year-old lefty made in his previous start against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
Norris enjoyed his best career outing when he pitched seven strong innings and allowed just one run to turn a 2-1 lead over to the bullpen, which promptly coughed up the lead and the game.
Against Cleveland, Norris could only muster three innings and was all over the map with his so-called control.
Norris worked the count full to seven of the final 11 batters he faced and his pitch count was already up to 78 when Gibbons opted to give him the hook.
Still, as short a shift as it was, Norris was able to skirt danger, leaving the bases loaded in both the second and third innings before turning the ball over to Francis in a still-runless game.
The Blue Jays took care of that oversight for Francis in short order, tapping Cleveland starter TJ House for five runs off four hits in the top of the fourth for a 5-0 Toronto lead.
House had been cruising along until then, not having allowed a hit and tallying nine ground-ball outs from the first 11 batters he faced.
But it all fell apart in the fourth, beginning with a leadoff walk to Jose Bautista before an Edwin Encarnacion single to right.
Danny Valencia then guided an opposite-field hit to right that scored Bautista for the game's first run.
Martin followed with a run-scoring double before Kevin Pillar stroked a pitch off his shoe tops for another double that cashed in two more.
That spelled the end of the night for House, who gave way to Ryan Webb.
With one out and Pillar at third base, Jonathan Diaz laid down a sacrifice squeeze bunt that scored Toronto's fifth run.
Cleveland got one back in the fifth, when Michael Brantley singled home Mike Aviles from second.
Pillar got the start in centre for Toronto and made yet another highlight-reel catch later in the inning, which might have prevented another Cleveland run.
Pillar raced back on a long drive off the bat of Brandon Moss and made a great catch before crashing heavily into the padded outfield wall, somehow hanging on as he crumpled onto the warning track on his back.