Both starting third baseman left with injuries: Beltre came in the third with a strained muscle in his lower back and Toronto’s Josh Donaldson in the fifth after he was kneed in the head while sliding in an attempt to break up a double play.
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It was as if everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Q: You had take a little Baseball 101 course? This could have been the fourth game of the series.
Nerves, admitted Price, usually a long cool glass of water on the bump.
If the American League Division Series goes five games, the Texas Rangers can take comfort from right-hander Yovani Gallardo. He went seven innings, struck out five and allowed just five hits.
Blue Jays SS Troy Tulowitzki (shoulder) is still not 100 percent but declared himself ready for the series opener today.
“It didn’t affect me”, Price insisted of the long layoff. “It was just a couple of key hits at a few key times that made the difference”, Gibbons said. Three of the starts were this year.
“I got a few ground balls whenever I needed to and limited the damage”, Gallardo said.
“I care a ton”. Mostly he displays self-confidence and reliability and, bounding off the hill, the grinning buoyancy of a roundly-acknowledged victor. “He didn’t make those mistakes that we capitalize on”.
“Whenever a duck’s swimming, they look calm and collected on the outside of the water”.
On paper, there was no more impending adversity than opening postseason play on the road against the powerful, home run-hitting Toronto lineup. He came back strong in the second frame, striking out the side on 14 pitches. “I like our offense, I like our defense, I like our pitching, I like our chances”. Texas also got big lifts from Delino DeShields Jr., whose RBI single broke the ice in the third inning, and Rougned Odor, whose homer stemmed Toronto’s momentum in the game and capped the scoring for the afternoon. “Two-one, we throw a change-up”.
While Price insisted that he did not let up when facing the Rangers’ less intimidating hitters-“I treat every hitter the same”-Chirinos, who caught Price in Tampa, disagreed. What can you do?”
“If you make pitches I feel like a lefty can get a righty or a lefty out”.
This was supposed to be all about the Toronto Blue Jays, their first postseason home game since 1993, and how the joy of baseball had returned to a city so desperately starved for a victor.
Pitch better, Price said.
“It’s frustrating, yes”, Price said.
Forget the regular-season book, in other words. I got light-headed how many times in my career?
Whenever the Jays put up runs, the Rangers countered. No matter what team we play for, we want to be able to play in front of a high octane crowd and this is what Toronto offers. It was right when I took the swing on that pop up. “We fought hard all year”.
There was not, it should be emphasized, great dejection in the clubhouse.
“I want that monkey off my back”, he said. “I mean, does everybody know what we’re playing for now?”
But with almost 50,000 towel-waving fans on hand to watch the Jays’ first playoff game in 22 years, the six-foot-six left-hander came up short. “It’s good to have that in the back of your mind”.
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The Jays trailed 2-0 after an eventful first inning that saw Stroman need 23 pitches to get his first out and Colabello to throw him a lifeline with a remarkable fielding display.
