Coming into 2016, both the Giants and Blue Jays had “Great Expectations” (ironically, this is the title of yet another classic Dickens’ novel).
Advertisement
In the second game of the second-to-last three-game series between the Red Sox and Blue Jays, Canada’s team came out victorious after JA Happ held the Sox to just two runs over six innings in the Jays’ 3-2 win.
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia throws over Toronto’s Jose Bautista for a double play during Friday night’s game in Toronto. Toronto and Boston will close out the regular season with a three-game series at Fenway Park starting September 30.
Although players would acknowledge that the meeting happened and said that it helped changed the atmosphere in the dugout, they were all tight-lipped about who called it, who spoke, and what exactly was said.
“He said, ‘Are you the people who caught the ball?’ And we were like, yeah”, Rory recounted. “And it was just nice to get everyone together to talk about it and get back on the same page”.
Martin, who said he learned about the meeting in a text from the Blue Jays’ travelling secretary, wouldn’t give any more info on what was said.
“I got chills all throughout that meeting”.
Jose Bautista followed with a bloop single that gave Toronto a 3-0 lead. In falling to the Red Sox in the manner they did the Blue Jays drop further out of first place and look less and less like a World Series contending team.
Jason Grilli pitched the eighth, and Roberto Osuna finished for his 31st save in 34 chances, striking out Bradley with a man on for the final out. I feel like that translated into the game…
After the Jays scored three, Rodriguez was able to settle down and keep the Red Sox in the game. Kole Calhoun hit a two-run homer. Ramirez strolled home from third to make the score 3-2, and that’s where it stayed after Benoit fanned pinch-hitter Travis Shaw to end the inning.
Happ, for his part, was dominant, recording 13 outs before allowing his first hit of the game en route to six-plus innings of two run ball for his 18th victory of the season. Matt Barnes and Joe Kelly came out of the Red Sox bullpen.
Rodriguez gave up a two-run homer to Melvin Upton Jr. on a 93.3 miles per hour in the second inning.
Adrian Beltre’s 27th homer of the season broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning of the Rangers’ 2-1 win against the Angels.
“I just need to slow the game down, take deep breaths, walk around between pitches and stop being a statue sometimes out there”.
“It kind of works with a day game-night game (night Friday, day Saturday), righty going tonight, lefty tomorrow, we’ll see, we’ll see if he’s ready tomorrow, “Gibbons said”.
Upton also had a stolen base, his 25th of the year.
The home run makes it the fourth time in Upton’s career that he’s had 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases.
Travis’s enthusiasm perhaps got the better of him in the Toronto third inning when he led off with a double. He got some luck also in the first as Edwin Encarnacion hit a sharp groundball up the middle that ricocheted off Rodriguez and right to Aaron Hill to get the out.
Russell Martin led off the bottom of the second with a walk and he scored on the 20th home run of the season by Upton, a shot to left on a 1-1 fastball. Not only did the Blue Jays muster very little offense against Rick Porcello, they committed two errors and botched several other plays in the field.
Advertisement
There was another at Rogers Centre on August 14 – also against the Astros – when Martin laid out on the visitor’s railing to catch a ball headed into Houston’s home base, rolling over onto his back along the ledge so as not to crack his skull off the wooden bench at the top of the dugout’s stairs.
