The Texas Rangers will try to close out the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday when their American League Division Series moves to Globe Life Park for Game 3.
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The Toronto Blue Jays vs Texas Rangers have lived up to much of its hype as the strongest teams in the last few months of the season, with the first two games providing the crowd with intensity and well-played games.
Rangers manager Jeff Banister said he wasn’t sure whether Beltre would be available for Game 2.
After two road wins, the Rangers can clinch the best-of-five series at home today and become the first team into the final four of the Major League Baseball playoffs.
Banister had said earlier Monday that Beltre had taken soft-toss swings in the batting cage, but that running was “most problematic” for Beltre.
Sort of like a then-22-year-old Andrus was in 2010, when the Rangers also had a 2-0 ALDS lead and were on the way to their first World Series. As pointed out at Blue Jays Plus, Estrada has been locating his four-seam “rising” fastball up in the zone this season, inducing weak contact.
On the eve of Game 3 and with the Jays facing elimination, manager John Gibbons said he didn’t want to look past Sunday, but confirmed he may go with Price on short rest.
“We’ve still got to go out there tomorrow and keep winning games and we have to go to Texas anyway and win there”, he said. Martin Perez will start for Texas against Marco Estrada.
The victory was Toronto’s first in the postseason since Joe Carter’s home run won the 1993 World Series.
The Blue Jays had their leadoff hitter at second base to start each the third through fifth innings, a span that included the double plays started by Odor, whose grounder in the seventh produced the only Texas run.
DeGrom’s 13 strikeouts tied Tom Seaver’s franchise mark, which the Hall of Famer set in game one of the 1973 National League Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Toronto had taken a 4-3 lead in the fifth with a run-batted-in single from left fielder Ben Revere.
Reigning NL rookie of the year deGrom allowed five hits in seven innings to win the pitching duel with Kershaw, who finished with 10 strikeouts.
Friday’s game ranks as Toronto’s longest post-season game by innings. Since getting called back June 15, he is hitting.
Odor walked and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 in the second, Toronto tied it in the bottom half when Tulowitzki reached on Alberto’s error, Colabello followed with a ground rule double, Martin hit an RBI single and the tying run scored when Kevin Pillar grounded into a double play.
Josh Donaldson led off the fourth with a double and scored when Tulowitzki was the third consecutive batter walked by Perez.
Keone Kela (1-0) worked one inning for the win, staying calm after a dustup with Toronto slugger Josh Donaldson.
The bases were still loaded in the fourth when Navarro had an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play a pitch after a hard foul down the third-base line.
It seemed like another Houdini-like escape for Texas in the sixth, with a bases-loaded threat with no outs looking like it might fizzle after yet another double play denied the Jays by removing the lead runner. “You wonder what’s going on here, you go maybe this isn’t meant to be”.
For Dickey, making the post-season in the majors is a career first. “It’s a neat narrative”.
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Donaldson hit his first postseason home run in the first.
