“Shoot, he was unbelievable”, said Gibbons. “It was a job well done, but he’s been doing it all year”. “Really the big blow was, I think it was a changeup to Tulowitzki….” Dickey made it sound like something familiar for his team, but of course, it was not familiar at all.
Advertisement
Price, beaten 5-3 in Thursday’s series opener, was 11-2 on the road this year with a 2.05 ERA. The previous mark was two, which happened five times. They had returned to Texas for Game 3 with a 2-0 lead and with the expectation that they would close the series out on Sunday night. Hamilton ended up at second on the play after Bautista bobbled the ball in right field. “Good enough to go, good enough to play and tons of treatment, to be honest with you”, Tulowitzki said in the postgame press conference when asked about his health. Last night he did not allow a hit until the bottom of the 3rd inning in which Hanser Alberto unleashed a hard line drive over Kevin Pillar in center for a ground rule double. He’s 7-for-24 against the knuckleballer with two doubles, a home run and four walks. Revere is batting. 300 with an RBI and a stolen base over the last two games.
Estrada, in his first post season start, manage to keep the Rangers scoreless for 6 1/3 innings, no doubt due to his 79 miles per hour changeup, which only add difficulty to his cutter, four seam fastball, and curveball arsenal. But he answered the fans in the bottom of the inning with a fine running foul catch at the seats. Tulowitzki fouled the first one back but sent the second one into the left-field seats for his first postseason home run since 2007.
October 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, US; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marco Estrada throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers in game three of the ALDS at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
Tulowitzki, who finished 2-for-3, lashed a three-run homer to left off Texas reliever Chi Chi Gonzalez two innings later. They had arrived in Texas facing elimination having lost their two home games to open the series, but their much touted offense finally arrived in the series and it couldn’t have come a minute sooner. After Josh Donaldson moved to third on a sacrifice fly, Perez intentionally walked Edwin Encarnacion. Another double to start the fourth greeted starter Martin Perez in the fourth.
Then Tulowitzki kick-started the offence on a 3-2 pitch off Gonzalez.
The victory was the first in a postseason for Toronto since Joe Carter homered in Game 6 to capture the 1993 World Series.
Sunday marked the 32-year-old’s first playoff start after four relief appearances for Milwaukee in 2011.
This season, Dickey recorded his 100th career win, in his 100th start as a Blue Jay.
Advertisement
The knuckleball is a fickle pitch, of course, which means that if there is a Game 4, and Dickey struggles in the early going, Gibbons will not have the luxury of patience. Toronto came to Texas down two games to none in the American League Division Series. “If we can get another win tomorrow we go back to Toronto (for Game Five)”.
