On a night where Mets’ pitcher Marcus Stroman surrendered five runs in four inning in Queens, the return the Blue Jays got from New York at the deadline for Stroman shined in his MLB debut.
Anthony Kay, 24, and Simeon Woods Richardson, 18, were Toronto’s return prior to the trade deadline in exchange for Marcus Stroman.
Woods Richardson has awhile to go before he tastes the majors, but Kay, who was the Mets’ top prospect at the time of the deal, got a chance to show his goods with Toronto on Saturday.
Kay tossed 5.2 innings and struck out eight while yielding just two runs along the way. The eight strikes out are a franchise record in an MLB debut for Toronto.
“Everything was working,” Kay said, according to the Toronto Star. “That was probably the best I’ve felt in a really long time. I had good command of the changeup and curve, and everything. I was just going right after them and it really set me up for success.”
Former MetsMerizedOnline writer, Ryan Kolakowski, also talked to Kay, who said he has been able to just be himself on the mound recently.
“I feel like when I was in Syracuse with the Mets they were trying to change too many things because I had a couple rough starts,” Kay said, according to Kolakowski. “Once I got traded… (Toronto) told me to just do my thing.”
For the Long Island native Kay, he will get a chance to make an impression for the Jays, who are likely focused on 2020 at this point in the season being out of the race. If so, he has a fan in manager Charlie Montoyo.
“I’m glad I’m saying, ‘Wow, I like what I saw’,” Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “He’s a bulldog on the mound, he pitches inside, he changes speeds, he did a great job.”
