After Toronto’s 5-1 win over the Orioles before 15,532 at Oriole Park on Monday night, the Blue Jays (75-56) now lead the East by four games.
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BALTIMORE-Before Monday’s game against the Orioles, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons offered – only half-jokingly – that Marco Estrada’s performance would help settle the debate about the six-man rotation and whether extra rest was adversely affecting his team’s starters.
Toronto leads third-place Baltimore by four games in the AL East.
Mookie Betts hit his 30th homer, a solo shot, and drove in two runs for the Red Sox, who hold the AL’s first wild-card spot.
“You try to win every game from here on out”, Gibbons said. Miley dropped to 1-3 with a 6.04 ERA versus the Blue Jays after tossing six innings of two-run ball on July 24.WALK-OFFS1.
“I was able to locate a little better”, Estrada said. You could sense the looming victory as the at-bats got a bit longer, as the Blue Jays began chipping away at the Twins’ lead, as a two-run top of the seventh for Minnesota didn’t deter Toronto from adding three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning.
The Toronto Blue Jays have designated Josh Thole for assignment to make room for catcher Dioner Navarro. It’s beginning to feel like, no matter what the inning and no matter what the score, the Blue Jays are there to win games. Justin Smoak did the same in the ninth, and Devon Travis drove in the final run with a groundout later in the ninth. We’ve had trouble with him for a while.
With the Jays now holding the division lead and the Red Sox and Orioles sitting in the Wild Card positions, this three week stretch will go a long way towards deciding who books their place for the postseason.
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The New York Yankees are hanging on the outskirts of the playoff race and three games against the division leaders could decide if they contend or play spoilers down the stretch. Navarro played with Toronto in 2013-14 before signing with the White Sox in December. Happ saw his 11-game winning streak end in his last outing, a 6-3 loss to the Angels on August 25. Showalter said he’ll throw again Wednesday, and if that goes well, the right-hander will start moving “toward the mound”. Over 24 games (19 starts) and a 5-11 record this year, Jimenez has a 6.62 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP in 100.2 innings. Jimenez took a loss his last time out against the Nationals, going six innings with five hits and one earned. Setup man Darren O’Day is on the disabled list for the second time this year (rotator cuff strain), and offensive spark-plug Adam Jones now has not played since Friday night because of a hamstring strain.
