Toronto Blue Jays slugger Josh Donaldson left Thursday’s playoff game against the Texas Rangers after taking a knee to the head while trying to break up a double play at second base.
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Bautista fouled out to end the eighth and was replaced in right field by Dalton Pompey in the top of the ninth.
The underdog AL West champions, no strangers to being written off, spoiled the Blue Jays’ long-awaited return to the post-season Thursday, beating Toronto ace David Price en route to a 5-3 win.
Gallardo, the Rangers right-hander, held the Blue Jays to four hits and two runs over five innings and has won all four of his career starts against the Blue Jays.
Chirinos put the Rangers ahead 4-1 with a home run to left in the fifth after Odor was hit by a pitch for the second time.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Jays, with proven veteran Cole Hamels starting Friday for the Rangers.
Manager Jeff Bannister and the trainer visited Beltre at first base after the hit, and the player talked his way into remaining in the game. “Good energy, from start to finish”, he said.
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
“It’s been unreal. The love that we’ve been getting from Toronto, from all of Canada has been unbelievable”, Game 2 pitcher Marcus Stroman said.
“He didn’t give up many hits”, said Gibbons.
Last week was an almost unprecedented week where the under came in 45 of 57 lined games in college football and that has affected the totals for many of this week’s games, especially for those teams that are on under runs.
Mother Nature delayed the Toronto Blue Jays’ near-inevitable sixth American League East (AL East) tittle on Tuesday when heavy rain forced Toronto into a Wednesday doubleheader at Camden Yards against the Baltimore Orioles. Which doesn’t seem like very good news for the Pirates at all.
The Rangers won the game 5-3. The Blue Jays did not specify the severity of his injury.
That would have extended his streak of seasons with at least 200 innings pitched to 15. Odor’s knee went directly to the head of Donaldson.
Donaldson, who was hurt in the fourth inning, reached on a walk and sprinted for second base when Bautista hit a grounder to third baseman Hanser Alberto, who fired the ball to Odor for the forceout.
Adrian Beltre pulled up lame and was later diagnosed with a back strain. In August, they refinanced US$700 million of the Mets’ debt, and have played their owning of the team like true businessmen.
If the American League Division Series goes five games, the Texas Rangers can take comfort from right-hander Yovani Gallardo. “I didn’t throw the ball the way that I’m capable of today and I’ll be ready to go whenever it’s my turn again”.
“I can’t say it’s all that exciting, we’re going home and I think everybody wants to play in the playoffs”.
With runners on second and third with two outs in the inning, Barney hit a grounder to the left of the mound that Garcia fielded and wildly threw past first base to score one run.
“I don’t know if anybody else picked up on that, just as a fan watching what they were doing previous year”, said the Astros’ Collin McHugh, who will start Game 1.
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“Hopefully he can bounce back and be back in the lineup tomorrow”, catcher Russell Martin said.
