The wild-card Blue Jays have rediscovered their power stroke in October, and are going home with a chance to sweep the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series after a 5-3 win Friday.
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Toronto Blue Jays’ Francisco Liriano leans over to grab the rosin bag as, from left rear, Josh Donaldson, Darwin Barney, Troy Tulowitzki and Edwin Encarnacion, right, stand by him after he was hit on the back of the head by a single off the bat of Texas Rangers’ Carlos Gomez in the eighth inning of Game 2 of baseball’s American League Division Series, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Arlington, Texas.
With the score tied 6-6 with one out and runners on first and second, Canadian Russell Martin started the play with a ground ball to shortstop Elvis Andrus.
“I was at third base when the throw was being made”, Donaldson said.
“I don’t feel like it’s a burden”, he said.
Sunday’s Game 3 of their American League Division Series had been Odor’s first in Toronto since his fist met the chin of the Jays star slugger in Arlington back on May 15 – retribution for what he thought was a risky slide from Bautista that day. Back in Toronto for Game 3, the Jays erased an early 1-0 deficit with home runs from Encarnacion and Martin in the first inning.
There were no questions from the Toronto crowd (which was definitely not undecided about whom they were backing) but there was plenty of back-and-forth between the Blue Jays and Rangers Sunday night.
“Devon, every day is better”, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said in a conference call. “It was a little bit of a buzzkill at the time”.
Sanchez was charged with six runs (four earned) on three hits, including two home runs, and four walks.
After Pillar was intentionally walked to load the bases, Keone Kela came in to face Darwin Barney, who fouled out to third. What we’ve seen historically with Colby is that if his slider is sharp and he’s commanding his fastball, he’s good, and if he isn’t, he’s extremely hittable. “That’s a big positive for our offense”. “I’m going to be honest, I really need it, but I’m going to keep working and get ready for the next round”. “At this point in the year, a couple of days off can do wonders”.
Jays fans sure took notice and relished the mistake, from the guy who punched Joey Bats.
Odor, however, couldn’t complete the double play, and handed the game and the series to the Blue Jays with that throwing error.
Bush had thrown two scoreless innings in relief prior to beginning the 10th.
Thirty-year-old rookie Matt Bush took the loss for the Rangers, despite pitching well in the longest outing thus far of his Major League career.
That looked a lot like Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer’s mad dash home in Game 5 of the World Series, wouldn’t you say? Choo was on the disabled list four times this year, and had missed 39 games with a broken left forearm until last weekend.
Despite how the series ended, the Blue Jays proved a point in that they are a risky team. We put the work in and had the desire, but we got cold at the worst moment and couldn’t find a way to beat them.
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Moreland greeted Biagini with a two-run double that glanced off the glove of diving center fielder Kevin Pillar to give the Rangers a 6-5 lead.
