David Price of the Toronto Blue Jays tips his cap to a standing ovation from fans at the end of the eighth inning during MLB game action against the Minnesota Twins on August 3, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Szczerbowski/Getty Images
The saviour arrived on the field of play at sun-drenched Rogers Centre on Monday afternoon about an hour before first pitch against the Minnesota Twins.
Although David Price was only making his way out to the leftfield bullpen to begin warming up, the sight of him nevertheless created a stir among the fans fortunate enough to have secured a ticket to the sold-out game.
Cheers of support for the new Toronto pitching ace began to ring out, and many of the early arrivers at the stadium rose to their feet to pay homage to Price. The 29-year-old, with a white towel draped around his shoulders and white headphones plugged into his ears, appeared taken aback by the unexpected show of adulation.
It was a scene that repeated itself on several occasions over the course of the afternoon: The left-hander clearly lived up to his reputation as one of the game's most dominant pitchers, befuddling the Minnesota hitters over eight stellar innings in leading the Blue Jays to a 5-1 victory.
And in the process, Toronto's long-suffering baseball fans fell in love with a new sports hero, who they applauded and lauded at every turn.
It was especially evident in the fourth inning, when Price pitched out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam and walked off the mound to a deafening roar after striking out Kurt Suzuki for the third out.
"I've pitched in quite a few big games, but that atmosphere [on Monday] takes the cake," Price said. "I've never experienced anything like that. That was cool."
After surrendering a home run off the bat of Torii Hunter in the second inning that provided the Twins with a short-lived 1-0 lead, Price was almost perfect after that. He allowed just two more hits over the next six innings. Along the way he fanned 11 Minnesota batters, the most strikeouts ever by a pitcher making his Blue Jays debut. Roger Clemens held the old mark of nine.
"What can you say?" Toronto manager John Gibbons said after Price had completed his masterpiece. "There's different classes of pitchers in the league and anybody who is a starting pitcher in the big leagues is good. And then there are the guys who tend to separate themselves. David's at the top; he's one of those guys. But that's what they do."
And don't look now, but with the victory, their fourth in their past five outings, the Blue Jays (55-52) have pulled into a tie for the second wild-card playoff berth in the American League with the Twins (54-51).
The Blue Jays acquired the angular Price in a trade-deadline deal on Thursday, and his arrival has helped enhance a buzz around the team not felt in years.
Along with the acquisition a few days earlier of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies, the arrival of Price has fuelled optimism that the Jays' 21-season drought without a playoff appearance is about to end. He provides the team with a true ace in his prime, a luxury the Blue Jays have not enjoyed since reliable Roy Halladay was toeing the rubber. And for that, Gibbons is thankful.
"The fact that you can run him out there every fifth day, it's kind of a comforting feeling," Gibbons said. "Really, it's just like when Halladay was here."
Monday's holiday contest quickly became a hot ticket item after the American League club announced the date of Price's debut in a Blue Jays uniform. Just less than 46,000 people crammed into the stadium, which was sold out for just the sixth time this season.
Among the interested onlookers was NBA superstar Kevin Durant, who was there to lend his support to Price. (Durant was in town for Caribana and Drake's summer music gathering, OVO Fest.)
"That blows me away," Price said after learning that the Oklahoma City forward was in his corner. "That's probably the coolest thing I've had happen to me, fan-wise."
After Hunter's go-ahead home run, the Blue Jays quickly drew even in the bottom half of the second inning, drawing on an unlikely power source in Ryan Goins, who swatted just his third home run of the season off Minnesota starter Ervin Santana.
After Price's Houdini-like escape act in the fourth, the Blue Jays were able to pull away in the fifth led by the new deadly duo of Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson. Tulowitzki led off with a single and then sauntered home when Donaldson followed him to the plate and stroked an opposite-field line drive that carried over the wall in right.
The two-run dinger, Donaldson's 27th of the year, put the Blue Jays in front for good at 3-1.
"I thought it was great," Donaldson said of the robust atmosphere in Rogers Centre. "People showed up for a good reason, to see David. That guy's a horse.
"That's what you expected to see out of him," Donaldson continued, adding: "It's hard when you have those expectations to go out there and do it, but he did just that."