Today in Blue Jays History: J.P. Arencibia Hits Two Homers and a Triple

Apr 1, 2023 - 1:35 PM

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Twelve Years Ago Today

Opening Day 2011 (remember when Opening Day meant baseball?). The Twins were in Toronto. The Jays won 13-3.

J.P. Arencibia hit two home runs and a triple. He had 5 RBIs.

Other Jays had a good day too. Jose Bautista went 3 for 4 with a home run. Adam Lind went 2 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBI.

Rickey Romero started and pitched 6.1, allowing 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned, 0 walks and 7 strikeouts. Casey Janssen, Jason Frasor and Carlos Villanueva pitched in relief.

From the recap:

J.P. Arencibia couldn’t get a hit this spring if my sister was pitching, then second at-bat of the season, he hits a long homer to dead center. Next time up a triple to the wall in center. Then an opposite-field homer. Just a wow night for him.

Also, from the recap:

Our first inning might have been the most fun I’ve had watching baseball ever. Rajai Davis beat out an infield grounder for a single. Not only was it an infield single, but it was also a hard-hit ball, almost straight at the shortstop, and Davis still beat it out. Then Davis was picked off first base but returned to first after a short run down. Escobar singled, then he and Davis pulled off a double steal. When was the last time you saw the Jays do a double steal? Bautista walked. Lind was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Hill flew out to center, and all three runners moved up. Adam Lind tagged up from first to go to second on a not particularly deep fly to center. Adam Lind. Edwin Encarnacion hit a sac fly. Travis Snider reached on an error, and suddenly we are up by four without a home run.

In his first MLB game, the season before this game, JP hit two home runs. He had good moments, but unfortunately, he didn’t have enough of them. He had a problem with breaking balls and never learned to control the strike zone. JP ended his career with 85 walks and 484 strikeouts.

You can see the game’s boxscore here.