Porcello pitched seven innings to become the first 20-game victor in the majors, Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run homer and the Red Sox increased their AL East lead to two games by routing the Toronto Blue Jays 13-3 on Friday night. The Blue Jays are 14-14 in their past 28 games, spinning their wheels.
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“Outstanding pitching performances by all those guys”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.
“But it was one of those games”.
With 20 games left in the season the Blue Jays need to turn it around quickly, otherwise silence may fall over the Rogers Centre earlier than expected. “And he seemed eager to get back down to the clubhouse and find out what was happening back in the game”.
Chase Headley homered and Brett Gardner had an RBI single among his three hits for the Yankees, who are two games back of Toronto and Baltimore for the top spot in the wild-card standings. It was Benoit, then with the Detroit Tigers, who yielded a tying grand slam in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. And though it was highly odd to see Big Papi make a 270-foot “dash”, it was merely a scene-setter for a day of oddities to come.
Joey Votto had four hits including a home run as the Cincinnati Reds edged past the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-7 and Bryce Harper’s three-run homer gave the Washington Nationals a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The fact that most of the games to date between these division rivals have taken place at Tropicana Field offers no real consolation to fans-the Jays are 2-4 at home and 5-5 on the road against Tampa Bay. What madness is this?
Urena (4-6) retired the first 14 batters he faced. This, of course, is a matchup with some history, and today, that history repeated.
Troy Tulowitzki’s grand slam in the third momentarily brought the crowd to its feet but the good vibes were temporary. Schultz took over and allowed singles to Pedroia and Bogarts.
Jackie Bradley Jr. led Boston to an 11-8 win by collecting two hits with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs.
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For a play that must be executed fast, it still unfolded like a period drama. Martin then struck out and Kimbrel got Tulowitzki to line out to end the game.
Holt drove in three runs and Phillips scored three times as last-place Cincinnati (60-82) closed the four-game set with three straight wins. David Ortiz crushed a three-run home run in the sixth off Joaquin Benoit to cancel out Edwin Encarnacion’s two home runs and give the Red Sox a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
First base umpire Jim Joyce was loudly booed in the bottom of the ninth after he reversed a call on the field, deciding that a double by Martin was actually foul before seeing a video replay. That kind of afternoon for Toronto.
Bogaerts, who saw his batting average dip below.300 for the first time since April 30th, laced a single up the middle that plated Bradley and Dustin Pedroia to even the score at 6-6. The heckles turned into large boos from the crowd the farther I walked down the grey steps to nearly the first row, so close to the Blue Jays players that I could nearly sense their own disgust with me. That latter part would be a risky bet.
While Sanchez may not be concerned, John Gibbons’ decision to shuffle his rotation to include him as one of his three starters against the Red Sox backfired. Rob had attended games at Fenway with his family several times as a child, and he thought that a Red Sox game would be a good way to cheer up an otherwise somber trip – but the experience ended up being more memorable than the Kerrs could have planned.
On Sunday, the stakes weren’t quite as high, but they were still significant: the rubber game of a showdown series between A.L. East rivals, with the Sox trailing 8-7.
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Pennant races are heating up down the stretch in Major League Baseball. Nobody said it would be easy.
