Jays' Top Ten Most Exciting Home Openers: #3: 2000

Top Ten Blue Jays’ Home Openers

#3: 2000 vs Kansas City Royals

               

Opening day hero Tony Batista

                Only 40,898 fans showed up to SkyDome on April 3 to see the Jays home opener against the Kansas City Royals. That’s a far cry from the 50 thousand that showed up regularly during the Jays’ glory years only a handful of years earlier. But this was a new club that had some young, talented players, even though their best player from the previous year, Shawn Green, had been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the off season.

                David Wells, in his second stint with the Jays after being obtained from the New York Yankees in exchange for Roger Clemens before the 1999 season, would get the start for the Jays. Jeff Suppan would get the ball for the Royals.

                After Wells retired KC in order in the top of the first, Shannon Stewart homered on the third pitch thrown from Suppan and Toronto took a 1-0 lead. The score stayed the same until the bottom of the fourth when Tony Batista hit a two-run dinger (with Brad Fullmer on base) and the Jays lead was now 3-0.

                With Wells stymying the Royals’ bats, the Jays seemed to be in complete control of the game, especially when Stewart hit his second solo home run of the game to make the score 4-0.

                The Royals cut the score in half in the top of the seventh on four consecutive hits (one of them a double), knocking Wells out of the game and making the score 4-2. After a scoreless eighth, the Jays brought in closer Billy Koch to finish off the Royals in the ninth.

                But Koch failed to save the game giving up a two-out, two-run single to future Jay Gregg Zaun.  The score was now tied at four going to the bottom of the ninth. Carlos Delgado led off the inning and struck out. Next up was Fullmer and he popped the ball up into foul territory behind third base and became the second out.

                The third batter of the inning, Batista, drilled the second pitch he saw over the outfield wall for his second home run of the game, giving Toronto a 5-4 walk-off win. In forty seasons for the Jays, it’s only one of two walk-off victories the Jays have had in a home opener.

                Despite blowing the save, Koch picked up the victory. Batista had three hits in the game, good for three RBIs. Aside from him and Stewart, shortstop Alex Gonzalez also had a multi-hit game. 

                On a side note, the starting centre fielder for the Royals, batting in the lead off spot, was future Boston Red Sox hero Johnny Damon. He was 0 for 5 in the game.

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