Marcus Stroman (6) of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during the first inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 3, 2016 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.Brian Blanco/Getty Images
Marcus Stroman was made for opening days.
The brighter the lights, the bigger the occasion, and Stroman stays cool, as if he is swinging in a hammock on a pleasant summer's day clasping an umbrella drink.
Brash and confident, the 24-year-old doesn't have a nervous bone in his body. And he'll tell you that, too.
Although he hasn't yet played a full major-league season, Stroman is entering 2016 as the ace of the Toronto Blue Jays. He gave himself the title in the off-season.
And, like all good aces, Stroman delivered.
In the season opener on Sunday, Stroman was simply brilliant, pitching into the ninth inning to help the Blue Jays get the new year off on the right foot with a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, despite striking out 16 times.
A two-run home run by Troy Tulowitzki in the Toronto eighth inning also went a long way toward putting the Blue Jays over the top in what had been a tight game.
"He rose to the occasion," Toronto manager John Gibbons said about Stroman, his 5-foot-8 dynamo. "It doesn't surprise me. It doesn't surprise anybody. He's good; he's only going to get better."
Stroman had stifled the Rays on four hits through eight innings and, with his team leading 5-1, was sent out to start the ninth by Gibbons, who wanted to give his right-hander the opportunity to collect an opening-day complete game.
But it started to go a bit awry when Stroman allowed a leadoff home run to Corey Dickerson. And when Desmond Jennings followed with a single to centre, Stroman's day was over and closer Roberto Osuna was summoned.
After striking out the first two batters, Osuna allowed a single to Kevin Kiermaier that scored the game's final run before Hank Conger grounded out.
From the fourth inning through the eighth, Stroman didn't allow a hit and faced just one batter over the minimum. He finished the game with five strikeouts and 14 groundouts, using a nasty sinker as his primary pitch.
He even got into a bit of a boys-will-be-boys yammer session with Rays' first baseman Logan Morrison after Morrison popped out in the fifth inning.
"When Stro takes the mound, it's different," said Tulowitzki, who patrolled shortstop with his usual aplomb.
"He raises the bar and makes you want to match his energy. Just the swag he has is second to none, really."
The Blue Jays did not waste any time getting to Chris Archer, the tough Tampa Bay right-hander. After a 34-pitch first inning, in which Toronto jumped into a 2-0 lead on an Edwin Encarnacion soft liner to centre that cashed both runs, Archer settled in.
He struck out 10 of the next 17 batters he faced through the next three innings before he departed after five, his pitch count up to 107.
Archer finished with 12 strikeouts.
That represented the most by one pitcher on opening day in Tampa Bay history and the most on an opening day since Felix Hernandez fanned 12 for the Seattle Mariners in 2007.
The Rays cut into the lead to 2-1 in the third when Evan Longoria had a solid rap to right field that scored Logan Forsythe from second.
But Toronto came back in the top half of the fourth when Kevin Pillar cashed Michael Saunders from third base with a single to right.
The run was unearned as Saunders got on base leading off on an error by Morrison.
The Blue Jays did not get into town until about 11 p.m. Saturday night after winding up their exhibition schedule with two games against the Boston Red Sox in Montreal.
And they took care of some business shortly thereafter, signing veteran left-handed reliever Franklin Morales to a one-year, $2-million (U.S.) deal.
To make room on the 25-man roster, the American League club optioned right-hander Ryan Tepera to its Triple-A team in Buffalo.
With Aaron Loup starting the regular season on the disabled list with a sore elbow, the Blue Jays broke camp with Brett Cecil as their only left-handed relief option available in the bullpen.
The addition of Morales will help fix some of that inequity.
Morales, 30, appeared in 67 games with the Kansas City Royals last season, posting a 4-2 record with a 3.18 earned-run average The left-hander held lefties to a .192 average in 2015.
Sunday's game lacked artistic merit with the teams combining for three errors, two of them by the Blue Jays.
Ryan Goins had the first one for the Jays, as the usually sure-handed second baseman muffed an easy ground ball hit right to him by Dickerson in the third.
In the fourth, Jose Bautista was ranging to his right in right field to track down a line drive off from Kiermaire only to see the ball deflect off his glove for another error, allowing the Rays' batter to get to second.
Kiermaire returned the favour when he was caught trying to steal third base by Toronto catcher Russell Martin for the third out of the inning.
But the story on the afternoon was Stroman, who is yearning to prove he has what it takes to be a team ace.
Stroman was asked what kind of feeling he wants to instill in his teammates when he takes the mound every fifth day.
"That a bulldog, a lion, is going out on the mound; he's going to give it everything he's got," came the reply. "And someone who doesn't want to give the ball up and someone who they know is going to go deep into games and just kind of leave it all out on the field."
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was at Tropicana Field and the Rays, for some reason, had George Wendt, who played Norm in the old TV comedy Cheers, throw out the first pitch. Old George is stouter than the kegs of the product he famously consumed at the bar on the show. Wendt also led the sellout gathering in a rendition of Take Me Out To The Ball Game in the bottom of the seventh inning.