Steven Souza Jr. of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrates his three-run home run with teammates Desmond Jennings and Evan Longoria.Brian Blanco/Getty Images
After some heavy slogging at quirky Tropicana Field, in the first series of their highly anticipated season, the Toronto Blue Jays are understandably eager to display their talents to the hometown fans.
The Jays return to Toronto for their Rogers Centre home opener on Friday night against the Boston Red Sox with star third baseman Josh Donaldson on the limp with a right calf muscle strain.
That news put a damper on the players' spirits as they quietly packed their gear Wednesday afternoon in the aftermath of another late-inning meltdown, a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Adding to their sense of discombobulation is the fact that the team is still rankled that the new rules regarding proper base-running etiquette likely cost them a victory against the Rays on Tuesday night.
And when Toronto manager John Gibbons was held up to be a misogynist, after jokingly suggesting that his players might start wearing dresses for a sport he perceives as going a bit soft, you knew if was time to get out of Dodge.
"Can't wait to get there," Gibbons said, referring to Toronto, where the Blue Jays hope they can lick their wounds and restore some of that swagger that carried them last year to within two games of the World Series.
That bounce-back should be easier to achieve playing in front of a sold-out throng of close to 50,000, all excited to welcome the American League East champs in the first home game of the season.
And don't forget the dirt basepaths that fans and players are eager to see.
That off-season installation was the fallback plan in hopes of making dreary (with the roof closed) Rogers Centre a bit more appealing while club ownership mulls its options about installing real grass.
Gibbons hopes to have Donaldson in that starting lineup Friday, but is not sure.
The 2015 AL most-valuable player was limping visibly Wednesday as he rounded the bases in the third inning, after stroking his second home run of the season.
It was a majestic three-run blast to left field off Tampa Bay starter Matt Moore that lifted Toronto in front 3-0.
Donaldson remained in the game, but in the top of the seventh, with Toronto's lead down to 3-2, he did not even try running to first after he grounded out softly to short.
Donaldson did not play in the bottom of the frame, with Darwin Barney moving over to third base from second. Ryan Goins came off the bench to play second.
"Calf just started locking up," Donaldson said afterward. "I tried to go for about three or four innings with it. It was just one of those situations where, one, I didn't feel like I was able to play defence the way I wanted to, and two, if I had to try to run or something, it was pretty difficult. But we don't think it's too serious and hopefully [I'll] be back for our next game."
For most of the way, Toronto starter J.A. Happ had done a good job of fending off the Tampa attack. In six-plus innings he allowed two runs off seven hits, including a home run by Steven Souza Jr. in the sixth that cut the Toronto lead to one.
But it was the bullpen that allowed this doggie to get away.
Gavin Floyd, working his second inning in relief, allowed singles to Evan Longoria and Desmond Jennings before handing the ball to Arnold Leon with one out in the bottom of the eighth.
Leon, who was purchased by Toronto from the Oakland A's in January, then served up a big fatty to Souza, who clubbed his second homer of the game, a three-run shot to straight-away centre.
That was the game as the Rays split the series 2-2.
Donaldson said he felt the Blue Jays, for the most part, played pretty well coming out of the gate.
"I thought that they pitched well pretty much the entire series," Donaldson said. "The fact of the matter is, they were ahead for what, an inning-and-a-half the entire time? So I felt like we played pretty good baseball.
"We just have to do a little bit better job at the end of the game and finishing up."
And not striking out so much.
Over the four games, Toronto would-be hitters whiffed 46 times, including 10 on Wednesday when Jose Bautista and Russell Martin each struck out three times.