The reality is that a handful of pitchers stepped up and did what they’ve been doing for a good portion of this season to pull their team back from the edge of the abyss.
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Roberto Osuna worked the ninth for his 31st save in 34 chances, striking out Jackie Bradley Jr. with a man on for the final out. We’re all sitting here with 22 games to play. “You’ve just got to move on and look forward to the next day”. It’s about right now and the urgency to win right now.
Reliever Scott Feldman allowed four runs (three earned) in the seventh on a solo homer by Bogaerts, his 18th of the season, and a three-run shot by Ramirez, his 22nd. We want to win the division.
The Blue Jays kicked the ball around, failed to hit and saw Estrada knocked around again on Friday night in a troubling 13-3 loss to the first-place Red Sox (79-61) that pushed Toronto (77-63) two games back with a pair of games remaining in this series. He allowed five runs, four hits and three walks against the Blue Jays on June 5.
The game Friday was the opener of a six-game homestand for the Blue Jays, who completed a 3-6 road trip to Baltimore, Tampa Bay and NY, where they were swept in three games by the Yankees.
UNDATED (AP) – Mets second baseman Neil Walker has undergone season-ending surgery to fix a herniated disk. One of the only positives for Estrada’s short outing on Friday?
Kris Bryant hit a two-run homer, Jon Lester threw seven scoreless innings and Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman completed the shutout to give Chicago its 90th win of the season. Toronto won the second game of the three-game series 3-2.
The seventh inning started with promise as Hanley and Hill started it off with back to back singles to chase Happ from the game. Bautista drew cheers from the 47,829 in attendance at Rogers Centre as he bounced off the wall to catch Bradley’s ball and fire it home.
“Being aggressive, getting strike one”, said Happ. “Then Grilli comes on and faces the heart of their lineup”. Seven of their past 10 losses have come by one run, and they have scored fewer than five runs in nine of those 10 defeats. “So it was an outstanding pitching performance top to bottom”. J.A. Happ (17-4, 3.44 earned-run average) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday against fellow southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez (2-6, 4.83). The runner was called safe by the umpire, but the call was reversed after a video replay.
Through his first 57 games this season, Travis was only charged with three errors while patrolling second base. If the results are the best indicator, the skipper made the right decision.
Happ took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Pedroia has now hit safely in 28 consecutive games against Toronto. He didn’t allow a hit until Chris Young’s one-out single to center in the fifth.
The Boston offence is a high-powered outfit, the most prolific in all of baseball.
“I got chills all throughout that meeting”. “I appreciate and respect people having respect for what I do”, Ortiz said, “but my whole focus now is on going to the playoffs and trying to win a championship.”. They had opportunities in both innings with runners reaching base, but could not get a clutch hit. “I think we had a general good feeling about it so it was a fun game”.
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In his own understated way, Happ tipped his hat to the mood in the room following the rare team meeting held on Saturday morning. “I’m not saying we didn’t today, but that needs to be more of the norm”. It was a fun game. Also, since the All-Star break, Boston starting pitchers have combined for a 3.44 ERA, which means the offense should feel pressure only to outscore the opponent by one run, not 11. It was overwhelmingly positive. Even on some close pitches I’d give up a bloop hit, or whatever. “All I’m going to say is that it was overwhelmingly positive and I’m so glad to be part of this group”.
