Zack Greinke shined on Thursday, but not the way he normally does.
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The Blue Jays have hit at least one home run in 18 of 19 games since the All-Star break.
“He can swing the bat, that’s for sure”, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. They swept the Minnesota Twins while winning their last eight of nine games averaging 6.3 runs per game during that time frame.
Over the past few days, and particularly on the weekend, “our daily sales volumes (tickets we sell on a day-to-day to basis for all future games) were more than quadruple what we normally sell”, Jason Diplock, the Jays vice-president of ticket sales and service, said in an email. He is 3-0 with a 0.92 ERA in his last four starts while the Blue Jays give him the run support needed.
In the field, Toronto has top notch defenders at short (Tulo), third (Donaldson), center (Pillar), and behind the plate (Martin).
“I would like to talk to somebody about it”, said Sanchez, who then caught himself adding “that being said, I don’t know if I will. It’s behind me”. “That’s the way I’ve always played”.
Liam Hendriks, Brett Cecil and Mark Lowe all worked one inning of relief before LaTroy Hawkins finished for his third save.
Toronto ended Minnesota’s hopes with a four run fifth inning. Left-hander Ryan O’Rourke took over from Hughes.Estrada retired 10 batters in a row before left fielder Eddie Rosario doubled to right with two out in the seventh. And through this weekend they’ll serve in the roles once reserved for the hated likes of Big Papi, Dustin Pedroia, Manny Ramirez and all those other Boston cads. “If I get on base, nine out of 10 times I’m probably scoring”.
In Arlington, Texas, Chris Gimenez hit the deciding home run and the Rangers held on to complete a three-game sweep of AL West-leading Houston.
What started out as a somewhat head-scratcher in dealing for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has turned into the Toronto Blue Jays being built to seriously contend in the second half of the season. “We’re playing good right now“.
The Yankees are no strangers to the long ball either, homering in 12 straight games, their most since a 14-game run in 2009. Alex Wilson (2-3) got the win after getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth. He labored most of the game. I was trying to do too much with my curveball today.
Sano hit an RBI single and third baseman Trevor Plouffe had a two-run double in the first for the Twins.
After sitting out Wednesday and Thursday’s game against the Twins, Sanchez will also miss Friday’s first encounter against the Yankees, but will be ready to go after that. “We’re feeling really good right now, we continue to swing the bats well, we’ve done that all year…. The light went out here a couple of hours ago”.
Starter Kyle Gibson (8-9) was chased in the fifth after allowing eight earned runs, matching a career worst set in his second big-league start against the New York Yankees on July 4, 2013. They’ll have to do it without the help of the cold and snow this time if they want to beat up on him again. But he said he wasn’t pressing and just couldn’t find the hits. When they hit the ball, it sounds like auto crashes.
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Revere also acknowledged that he understood the business side of the deal, as well as the fact that his new team is in a slightly different position, standings-wise, than the one he is leaving.
