Marcus Stroman Flexes On Braves with Oppo-Taco

One of the key components to the Toronto Blue Jays' starting rotation is getting it done with a bat in his hands, too.

Pitcher Marcus Stroman hit his first career home run during the Blue Jays' 9-0 route of the Braves on Thursday. The dinger was only the second home run by a pitcher in franchise history and first since 6'9" giant Mark Hendrickson went deep back in 2003. This time it was the 5'8" Stroman going yard.

Stroman's opposite field, 0-2 home run off Julio Teheran in the fourth was his second hit of the season, following up a pinch-hit double for the 26-year-old in April. With four plate appearances so far in 2017, Stroman is 2-for-4 with an RBI and a home run while slashing .500/.500/1.500. The rest of the Jays' staff with plate appearances this season—Mat Latos, Marco Estrada, Casey Lawrence, Joe Biagini, and Ryan Tepera—have combined for zero hits and three strikeouts in seven at-bats.

It was an utterly weird fourth inning in general, with another unexpected contributor notching his first home run of the season. Luke Maile, the team's defensively-crafty backup catcher, had just two hits on the season entering Thursday's game, but delivered an unexpected shot to left field for the fourth homer of his career a batter before Stroman took Teheran deep. With that, Stroman and Maile became the American League's first pitcher and catcher duo to hit back-to-back jacks since 1970, according to Sportsnet.

Fireworks were going off all night during Toronto's 9-0 win—including outfielder Darrell Ceciliani dislocating his shoulder on a home run swing—but it wasn't the type everyone expected. There were whispers of an imminent Braves retaliation leading up to game time in response to Jose Bautista's bat-flipping antics on Thursday, but nothing really happened, aside from Bautista being predictably plunked on the second pitch he faced. He, Stroman and the rest of the club then exacted revenge and had the last laugh, pounding Teheran for nine runs in his shortest start of the season.

Stroman's home run, along with his six strikeouts over 5.2 innings helped the Blue Jays avoid a brutal four-game home-and-away sweep.