After taking three of four from the Indians, the Blue Jays were looking to keep it rolling against the Red Sox. While the Red Sox hav Coule won 9 of the 15 meetings in the season series, the Blue Jays have outscored the Bosox 87-67 (a couple of blow-out wins padded the run differential). The Blue Jays could find themselves in the 2nd WC spot pending the results of teams they are chasing in the WC race by the end of the weekend. Alek Manoah got the start. George Springer got the half day off as DH with Randal Grichuk in CF, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in LF and Teoscar Hernandez in RF. Alejandro Kirk was behind the plate. Breyvic Valera was at the hot corner. Could the Blue Jays make it four straight wins? Here is tonight's game recap.
Game Highlights:
- The Red Sox opened the scoring in the top of the 4th on a sac fly by Xander Bogaerts that scored Alex Verdugo
- The Red Sox added a run in the top of the 5th as Enrique Hernandez singled home Marwin Gonzalez
- The Blue Jays got one back in the bottom half of the inning as Randal Grichuk doubled scoring Alejandro Kirk
- A batter later, Breyvic Valera doubled home Grichuk
- Three batters later, Bo Bichette singled scoring Valera
- A batter later, Teoscar Hernandezdoubled scoring Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- A batter after that, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drilled a 2-run bomb to right; also scoring Hernandez
- Four batters later, Kirk and Grichuk scored on a ground-rule double by Gerge Springer
- Nathan Eovaldi pitching line: 4.2IP 8H 7R (all earned) 2BB 4K 86 pitches (57 for strikes)
- Alek Manoah pitching line: 4H 2R (both earned) 3BB 4K 93 pitches (56 for strikes)
- The Red Sox got a pair back in the top of the 6th as Hunter Renfroe smashed a 2-run blast to left-center; also scoring Rafael Devers
- The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom haklf of the inning as Herrnandez singled scoring Marcus Semien
- The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom of the 7th as Sprimnger tripled home Grichuk
- The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom of the 8th on a sac fly by Springer that scored Hernandez
- Final score: Blue Jays 12 Red Sox 4
My Take:
- It was not the best start for Alek Manoah, who gave up a pair of runs on 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 4. He did retire 5 in a row at one point. Manoah was able to make enough pitches to get outs when he needed them
- The bullpen bent but didn't Ryan Borucki gave up a 2-run shot the inning after the huge 9-run 5th inning by the Blue Jays offense. Rafael Dolis retired the last batter in the 6th, but got into a bases loaded jam in the 7th, which he escaped by inducing Renfroe to pop out. Brand Hand allowed a hit but that was all. He also struck out Taylor Saucedo rebounded nicely from a rough outing last time, where he allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and did not retire a batter, Tonight, he had a clean inning and struck out the first batter he faced
- They say hitting is contagious, and that was demonstrated big-time in the 5th inning, where the the Blue Jays exploded for 9 runs on 8 hits, an intentional walk to Vlad and a hit by pitch.
- It was nice to see the Blue Jays score in innings 6-8. That has been a real struggle for the offense and is something they will need to be able to do if they want to succeed in the wild card game
- Every Blue Jays starter, except Vlad had at least one hit and all but Vlad and Marcus Semien had at least one RBI
- The Blue Jays were 8-16 with runners in scoring position
- Going forward I will update where the Blue Jays are in the WC standings. With tonight's win, the Blue Jays gain a game on the Red Sox. The Yankees beat Seattle, so they remain a game ahead of the Blue Jays, as well as the A's, who currently hold the 2nd WC spot. The A's were tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 7th in their game. If the A's won, the Blue Jays would be 2.5 games back of the 2nd WC spot. The Angels were trailing the Dodgers in the bottom of the 5th, but they are quickly slipping out of the race being 6 games back of the WC spot.
- Up next, the Blue Jays were looking to make it 6 straight wins by sweeping the doiuble-header tomorrow. Robbie Ray starts game 1 against Red Sox righty Nick Pivetta. Game 2 will be Jose Berros taking on Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck
