Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons confirmed the report on Thursday that right-hander Marco Estrada has a herniated disk in his back.
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With the victory, Toronto stayed two games back of the Boston Red Sox in the race for the American League East title. The lefty worked six strong innings, allowing just two singles, before he was touched for a two-run home run by light-hitting Andrelton Simmons, signalling the end of his evening. He joined Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez as the only players to reach 30 home runs in at least 14 seasons. Liriano will oppose Angels RHP Ricky Nolasco (5-14, 4.94) in the third game of the series.
Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Roberto Osuna, right, celebrates with catcher Russell Martin after Toronto’s 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels in a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016.
“He’s made some adjustments”, manager Mike Scioscia said. “I’m swinging at better pitches, so my pitch selection has been better”.
Nolasco put the leadoff batter on base in five innings but was able to make the necessary adjustments in order to pitch out of jams. It widens the lead and gives us chance to relax a little bit and have fun instead of playing the game on edge every time they get a guy on base.. “It was a little bit of a challenge to find the release point and the grip. They were fouling of a lot of pitches and laying off a lot of good pitches just because I had to go, basically, straight to work, no get-me-overs or anything that because runners were on base the whole game”.
Blue Jays: Francisco Liriano (7-12, 5.16 ERA) limited Tampa Bay to three hits and two runs in his last start.
Albert Pujols became the 16th player in big league history to get 600 career doubles with a drive into the left-field corner in the first inning.
“My fastball command was really good all night”, Weaver said. “Against a predominantly right-handed hitting team, he pitched good enough to win”.
A Josh Donaldson error in the seventh set the stage for two more unearned runs, including one on Mike Trout’s 90th RBI.
The Angels have lost five straight, scoring exactly four runs during that miserable stretch. But Nolasco defused the threat by striking out Edwin Encarnacion, getting Jose Bautista to hit a foul pop fly and inducing Martin to ground out.Troy Tulowitzki nearly tied the score in the fourth when he hit Nolasco’s 91 miles per hour fastball to deep center field. Richards tore his right ulnar collateral ligament May 1 but hopes to avoid Tommy John surgery through stem-cell therapy.
Donaldson was back again leading off the sixth inning, setting the table for another rally with his second walk of the game.
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A fan behind the Angels’ dugout was injured when Carlos Perez’s bat went flying into the crowd as he swung and missed at a third strike in the second inning. Los Angeles will turn to Meyer who is a woeful 0-3 with an 8.18 ERA but if they can get to Stroman and give him some run support early we could see a different result for he and the Halos who can salvage a split with a win. Liriano has a 2-5 mark with a 6.61 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) against Los Angeles.
