To some degree Marco Estrada’s back issues are going to linger from here on out, perhaps as nothing more than a minor irritant but maybe something more significant.
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According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetDSI, the Blue Jays are -125 money line favorites versus the Mariners, who have +115 odds to pull off the upset in Toronto again today. Guys are loose and feeling good about where they’re at right now. On Tuesday he allowed six hits and three runs in 6? innings in a loss to the Chicago White Sox.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Something you don’t often see: Toronto’s Josh Donaldson stuck in arm, protected by an elbow pad, into a slow curve from Hisashi Iwakuma in the third inning.
“Before these starts I was creeping down a little bit and getting too sidearm, getting on the side of the ball”, Paxton said. “I threw a lot of first-pitch balls, I was behind in the count a lot”.
“I don’t remember the last time I had that many runners on base”, Cruz said.
“I certainly still get upset and carry things”. The more I get off the mound, the better I’ll feel out there. “I just have to tip my hat to (Paxton)”.
Paxton (3-4) allowed one run and three hits.
“I thought (Dickey) had a pretty knuckleball early on”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. This dip in strikeouts pushes further focus on his batted-ball stats, and Paxton’s hard-hit rate this year is 33.1% with a 9.0% soft-hit rate, easily the lowest mark in the league among all pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings.
Toronto and Seattle will play two matinees this weekend, and with the Blue Jays playing at home up to July 31st, the trade deadline buzz will only grow louder at home.
Royals 3, Rangers 1: Danny Duffy scattered four hits while pitching into the seventh inning, and Kansas City scratched out three runs off Texas’ Yu Darvish. He was full value for it.
Paxton, of Ladner, B.C., made his only real mistake in the second inning when he allowed a solo home run to his former Seattle teammate and fellow Canadian Michael Saunders.
Chavez allowed five runs on six hits over 2/3 of an inning while Storen walked one and gave up two hits, including Cruz’s three-run shot, in one inning of work. After taking a borderline strike two, the reigning AL MVP quietly made a comment to home-plate umpire Mike Everitt, who proceeded to chew him out.
Using multiple players on the same team on a given day presents you with the opportunity to double dip.
“Neither one of them had pitched in a while”, Gibbons said. Two competitive guys, Josh is a very intense guy, and so is Mike. Aoki earned his second RBI with a base hit and Smith followed with an RBI single to put the Mariners up 8-1. A faster runner might have been waved home, but Thole isn’t faster than, well, anyone. After the first, he slapped himself in the head, after the second, he put his left hand on his hip and muttered to himself.
The right-hander gave up a leadoff triple to Norichika Aoki and hit Seth Smith with a pitch.
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Thole gave Toronto a 1-0 lead in the second inning, hitting a sac fly to shallow left field to score Kevin Pillar from third base. Estrada held the damage there and then escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth unscathed to keep the deficit at one.
