Popcorn isn’t really going to keep Price around long term, but the Blue Jays can make their case by winning. “Seated around a table in the middle of the room, Kendrys Morales and Danny Duffy gave a spirited sing-along to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You”. He slammed a first-inning leadoff home run off Kyle Kendrick (4-12), who left after one inning with shoulder inflammation. “We had to”.
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McCutchen connected off Michael Lorenzen (3-6), and Jung Ho Kang had three doubles and drove in a run as the Pirates got their first win of the season in Cincinnati after four losses.
The acquisition of Revere gives the Blue Jays an element of speed to go with their endless amount of power.
“It feels incredible”, said Zobrist, acquired from the Oakland Athletics earlier in the week. Tulowitzki went 2-for-5 in his third game with Toronto. This breaks from the usual mold of the team, which places a premium on power, but it also speaks to the new depth of the roster and an overall well-rounded team. In 2014, Cueto was selected to his first All-Star game as the right-hander won 20 games while posting a 2.25 ERA in a league-leading 243 2/3 innings pitched. Josh Donaldson grounded out to end it, stranding the tying run at third as Toronto fell to 11-23 in one-run games.
New Toronto reliever Mark Lowe will want to wipe away the bad memories from his Blue Jays debut as soon as possible. Tulowitzki (single) and Donaldson (double) each had RBI hits.
Winning this year is the priority, especially considering Price will be one of the most sought-after free agents in baseball, Hawkins is expected to retire and Lowe should be due for a significant raise. “They’re going to get guys who are going to help this ball club in the future”.
It is supposed to be a new-look Blue Jay bullpen but Saturday the Toronto relief corps bore a suspicious resemblance to the outfit that has haunted the team’s post-season dreams all summer.
As clutch as Donaldson’s hit was, the inning’s key play occurred just moments before. What separates him is he still gets base hits at the right time.
“Wade is the best setup man in the game”, Yost said. “That’s not even arguable”.
Edwin Encarnacion nearly made it two in a row against Davis with a shot that got to the warning track. It was the first of his 323 starts for the Mariners in 11 seasons.
But for all the Blue Jays’ pop, the Royals had plenty to match.
Toronto made it 5-1 in the fifth on back-to-back home runs by Donaldson, a two-run drive into the second deck, and Bautista. He’s hitting. 279 over 6-plus seasons, majority with Arizona. Six relievers combined for six innings of two-run ball.
A four-time Gold Glove victor, Buehrle said he was embarrassed by his error.
“I kind of like the way it’s set up now”, Gibbons said.
The Jays are two games out of a wild card spot, and six out of the division lead in the American League East, and well-stocked up to make a run for their first playoff spot since 1993. Although no reports have surfaced yet, it will likely be Ryan Tepera, or Liam Hendriks that will return to AAA.
Before Zobrist, Wilson Betemit was the previous Royals player to homer from both sides of the plate, doing it June 10, 2010 at Minnesota. In parts of 10 seasons with Seattle, Texas, Los Angeles (AL) and Cleveland, he is 8-22 with a 3.80 ERA with 289 strikeouts. In those starts he pitched 23.1 innings and compiled a 1-1 record.
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Revere is the latest player heading to the Blue Jays in a busy week in which they also obtained shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and ace left-hander David Price.
