Jackie Bradley Jr. led Boston to an 11-8 win by collecting two hits with a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs. He gave up a lead-off single in the first inning, then retired 14 straight before issuing a two-out walk in the fifth.
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It was David Ortiz that put the Red Sox up for good.
The boos that Ortiz gets is much the same as the ones that I get every time I walk into the Rogers Centre while wearing my pride on my sleeve literally and figuratively.
Bradley’s sac fly to deep right field in the seventh brought home Hanley Ramirez and reduced the Blue Jays’ lead to 3-2. The Blue Jays and Orioles provisionally hold the two AL wildcard berths, two games ahead of Detroit and the New York Yankees, with Seattle and Houston a further 1-1/2 games back. He finished his 123-game regular-season career at the Rogers Centre with 41 homers, most ever by a visiting player.
“It’s way better than being on the losing side of it”, said Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello, who relieved Benoit in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS while with the Tigers and took the loss.
DODGERS 5, MARLINS 0: Left-hander Rich Hill was pulled after pitching seven flawless innings for the Dodgers, who wound up with a combined two-hitter.
The Toronto Blue Jays feel that they received a jolt of energy from a players-only team meeting before their game Saturday against the Boston Red Sox.
Now knotted up with the Orioles (78-64 also) for the two wild-card positions in the American League, Toronto still has their work cut out for them since both the Detroit Tigers and Yankees trail them by only two games.
Andrelton Simmons drove in two runs and Jered Weaver scattered four hits while allowing two runs over 6 2/3s to send the Angels past Texas 3-2.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher J.A. Happ (33) delivers a pitch against the Boston Red Sox during the second inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. Hembree struck out the first two batters he faced, but was yet another victim of a costly free pass.
After making three significant misplays on Friday night, Upton incurred the wrath of the Blue Jays faithful as a lightning rod for everything that ailed the team that night. Holt walked with two out and took third on an errant pickoff attempt. Martin walked to force in a run and Tulowitzki hit a first-pitch homer.
Yoenis Cespedes reached the 30-home run mark by crushing a grand slam in the third inning of the Mets’ 10-3 pounding of Atlanta.
“Just a dramatic home run once again from David against Benoit”, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. The Jays led 8-7 in the sixth until Ortiz belted his 32nd home run of the season. With his 535th career homer, Ortiz moved past Jimmie Foxx into possession of 18th place on baseball’s career list. In exchange for the actual home run ball, Ortiz signed one ball for Rory and another for Ella. That gave Holt more than enough time to score.
It was a three-run, sixth-inning jack off Joaquin Benoit, which provided the winning runs in an 11-8 Boston victory. Noe Ramirez (0.1 innings), Robbie Ross Jr. The offense climbs right back into it.
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. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 25th save of the season.
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The Red Sox’s lead over the Blue Jays is back to two games in the division after taking two out of three in the weekend series and Toronto is tied with Baltimore in the wild-card standings. They lost yet another series, something which has been happening with regularity of late; outside of the brilliant performances of Encarnacion and Tulowitzki (a combined 6-for-8 with three home runs, three singles, two walks and seven RBI), the offence remains essentially dormant (Toronto’s other seven starters went 2-for-28 with two singles, five walks and nine strikeouts).
