He popped out to 2nd and the Blue Jays evened the series at a game apiece.
Advertisement
NATIONALS 9, BRAVES 1: Bryce Harper hit an RBI double in his return to the lineup, Tanner Roark won his fourth straight start and Washington won big at home.
It was the same story Saturday against Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez. He is coming off a 4 1/3-inning no-decision against the Rays on Monday in which he allowed six hits, three walks and four runs in a 7-5 Toronto win.
“It’s amusing how one trade (Troy Tulowitzki), with a good team and going after it (David Price, etc.) with one trade deadline seemed to really turn them all around”, Halladay said.
“He didn’t quite have the finish on his pitches”, manager A.J. Hinch said.
The game started out promising for the Astros. Houston is 10-43 this season when it scores less than four runs.
Outstanding defence, power – including Troy Tulowitzki’s three-run homer in the fifth that broke open the game – and strong starting pitching from Marcus Stroman (9-5), who gave up an earned run in five hits over 6.1 innings, striking out eight and walking none for only the second time this season.
The Blue Jays had 12 hits as they scored nine runs for the first time since scoring the same total against the Baltimore Orioles on July 30, winning a battle of the Majors’ two best teams since May 31.
BREWERS 7, REDS 3: Ryan Braun hit two homers, doubled and drove in six runs as Milwaukee avoided a sweep at home.
Catcher Russell Martin stroked the key hit, a three-run home run to centre in the sixth inning that erased a 2-1 Houston advantage. “We kind of had to mix it up a little bit, throw some more breaking balls and some off-speed”.
Sanchez lowered his ERA to 2.84, second in the American League to Kansas City’s Danny Duffy (2.82).
METS 5, PADRES 1: Steven Matz carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning and host NY won consecutive games for the first time in more than a month.
“They slapped three balls to right field in a hurry, ” Sanchez said. “I thought we did it just enough to keep him out of his comfort zone”.
Donaldson cut the deficit in half with a solo homer off Collin McHugh in the bottom of the first, his 28th.
Gattis followed with a 367 ft. fly ball to right that was nothing but a loud out, and A.J. Reed hit a 390 ft. ball to left for his second double of the game. Travis grounded out to end the inning.
“Replay helps us more than it hurts us but that’s where I wish they would have taken away replay for a day”, Hinch said. After retiring 8 in a row, McHugh gave up back-to-back 1-out singles to Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders.
The big right-hander, a two-time Cy Young Award victor, was either the best, or second-best pitcher in team history, depending on how one feels about Dave Stieb, but never made the playoffs during his dozen seasons in Toronto, despite going 148-76 with a 3.43 ERA.
Hoyt fell behind 3-0 but battled back to 3-2 before Martin homered on a slider.
“First-pitch changeup”, Fiers said.
Altuve hit a 2-out triple in the 8th, his 2nd extra-base hit of the game and third time to reach base, but Correa struck out to end the inning. While Halladay did finally reach the post-season after he was traded to Philadelphia in December of 2009, his heart has always been in Toronto and he would have loved to have played truly meaningful games while here.
Advertisement
Astros first baseman Marwin Gonzalez was hit on the left knee by a pitch from Stroman in the second. On Friday, the Astros put up a 5-3 victory. He is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA this season in one start against the Blue Jays this season, allowing three runs in six innings on August 3. He’s winless in three outings.
