Let the record show that the Red Sox got some 19 straight innings of Good Buchholz in the rotation.
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The starting staff is slowly growing into the inconsistent bunch that most expected back in April, but the Blue Jays’ mediocre offensive numbers of late have also held them back. And from there, it was a vintage Buchholz meltdown.
The hosts cut the lead in half, and then Troy Tulowitzki blasts the offering from Clay Buchholz high and deep to left, with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third.
If the Red Sox have a weakness, it might be their starting pitching. “Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap to them with that”. He hit a grand slam and Edwin Encarnacion added two home runs on Sunday as Toronto dropped the rubber match of their three-game series to Boston 11-8. It’s not a typo when the stat books read that Toronto is listed at 25th overall in total batting in the month of September, now 11 days into it. He was joined on the bases by Leon, who got plunked on the shin by a wild pitch that would have scored Holt, placing runners on first and third for Bradley Jr.
Dominick Depole is the Toronto Blue Jays Writer at Outside Pitch MLB.
And sometimes, you have to win when you score only three runs, even four.
OK, here’s the good news: Entering play Saturday, the Red Sox were averaging 5.55 runs per game, comfortably better than the league average of 4.59.
The Red Sox scored four times with two outs in the ninth inning to pull off an 8-7 comeback victory over the Rangers. “Obviously, it was a good effort, but I’d like to come away with that ball”.
NATIONALS 3, PHILLIES 2 Gio Gonzalez pitched seven sharp innings for host Washington, and Anthony Rendon doubled home the tiebreaking run. But if there’s any game these Sox have experience winning from early in the season, it’s the old barn burner. They fare better against every other team in the division, with 67 cumulative runs against the Yankees, 76 against Boston, and 90 versus the hard-hitting Baltimore Orioles. Hanley Ramirez was next up to contribute to the cause, blasting a solo shot to center. Brett Cecil, Aaron Loup, and Matt Dermody all looked strong in their brief outings, and Loup was involved in one of the game’s more freakish plays as he threw out Brock Holt trying to steal home to end the fifth inning. It.did not work.
– It appears Jackie Bradley Jr. really enjoys hitting in the nine hole.
Xander Bogaerts tied it 6-6 for Boston with a single in the fourth, scoring Bradley and Dustin Pedroia.
Sunday at Rogers Centre, on an afternoon when the helter-skelter Toronto offence was making things interesting, Donaldson’s success was mostly missing. In a replay of 2013, Ortiz took a Benoit changeup, and blasted it to right.
Boston’s Ortiz put the Red Sox up 10-8 with his drive. Albert Pujols is the only active player with more in his career (unless you count Alex Rodriguez as “active”; Rodriguez’s 2,086 rank third all-time).
Ziegler wouldn’t stop there, either.
Martin made a daring play in the fifth inning, jumping into the Red Sox dugout trying to catch a foul ball from Hill. Pinch-hitter Travis Shaw stuck out to end the inning. He survived one-out singles by Kevin Pillar and Travis.
Koji Uehara picked up the eighth without too much trouble, keeping Josh Donaldson’s bat quiet on the weekend with an inning-ending double play and leaving only one last bit of drama on the day.
Tucker Barnhart drove in three runs and Joey Votto hit a homer on his 33rd birthday as Cincinnati, far out of playoff contention, refused to quit against Pittsburgh at PNC Park. Martin later struck out.
It was an appropriately insane finish to an undeniably huge series.
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The victory gives Boston a two-game cushion over Toronto and Baltimore in the packed AL East race with three weeks left in the regular season.
