Blue Jays hold off Rays for 10-8 win

After the win last night the Blue Jays clinched a playoff birth. While that is nice to see they have their sights set on the AL East title. With that in mind they sent out their ace David Price to the mound in game 2 of a 3 game series versus the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays counted with their young blossoming ace Chris Archer. So far this year Chris Archer has been golden against the Jays going 3-1 with a 0.93 ERA.

The Blue Jays opened up the game with a bang. Ben Revere hit a lead off single and Josh Donaldson drew a walk to setup Jose Bautista for a three run home run over the left field wall. Edwin Encarnacion struck out swinging for the 1st out of the inning. Justin Smoak hit a ball into the gap of left center but Brandon Guyer tracked the ball perfectly to limit Smoak to a single. Russell Martin blasted a two run home run to deep left center field. Ryan Goins hit a fly ball to center and Kevin Pillar struck out to end the inning.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a one out single to left field in the top of the 2nd inning. He was erased after Richie Shaffer and James Loney were retired.

With one out in the bottom of the 2nd inning Ben Revere hit a single to right field. Josh Donaldson followed that up with a walk to put two runners on base. Jose Bautista popped up in foul ground for the 2nd out. Edwin Encarnacion ground out to end the inning.

Kevin Kiermaier led off the top of the 3rd inning with a ground rule double. Rene Rivera drew a walk to put the first two runners on base. Brandon Guyer hit a single to right field to load up the bases with no outs. Steven Souza hit a double to right field to score two runs. Evan Longoria struck out for the 1st out of the inning. Logan Forsythe hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score the 3rd run of the inning. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a single to left field scoring the 4th run of the inning. Richie Shaffer struck out to end the inning.

With two outs in the bottom of the 3rd Ryan Goins hit a double to left field. Kevin Pillar hit a pop up that landed between everyone in shallow center field. Goins running hard on the play scored with ease. Cliff Pennington drew a walk to extend the inning. Ben Revere hit a double to right field to score Pillar from 2nd base. Josh Donaldson ground out to end the inning.

In the top of the 4th inning Kevin Kiermaier hit a one out solo home run to deep center field.

Jose Bautista led off the bottom of the 4th inning with a walk. Edwin Encarnacion reached base on a fielder’s choice. Justin Smoak hit a single to left field. Russell Martin battled some tough pitches but drew a walk to load up the bases. Ryan Goins hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Encarnacion from 3rd base. Kevin Pillar hit a double to right center field scoring another run. That was the end of the afternoon for Chris Archer. C.J. Riefenhauser came in to pitch for the Rays. Cliff Pennington struck out to end the inning.

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LaTroy Hawkins came in to pitch the 6th inning for the Blue Jays. Asdrubal Cabrera led off with a single. After a Richie Shaffer strike out James Loney ground into a double play to end the inning.

Andrew Bellatti came in to pitch the 6th inning for the Rays. Andrew picked up a clean 1-2-3 inning.

Aaron Loup came in to pitch against Kevin Kiermaier in the 7th inning and was able to induce a ground ball out. Liam Hendriks entered with one out and was able to retire both Rene Rivera and Brandon Guyer.

Xavier Cedeno came in to pitch the 7th inning for the Rays. Kevin Pillar led off with a single to left center field. Chris Colabello pinch hit for Cliff Pennington and was called out on strikes. Kevin Pillar took off on the first pitch to steal 2nd base. Ben Revere ground out allowing Pillar to advance to 3rd base. Brandon Gomes came in to pitch against Josh Donaldson and was able to get Josh to fly out on the 1st pitch.

Aaron Sanchez came in to pitch the 8th inning for the Blue Jays. Darwin Barney was put in to field 2nd base after the Colabello pinch hit. Aaron needed only 8 pitches to retire the side in order.

Kirby Yates came in to pitch the 8th inning for the Rays. Jose Bautista led off with a solo home run to deep center field. Edwin Encarnacion, Justin Smoak, and Russell Martin were then retired in order.

Ryan Tepera came in to pitch the 9th inning for the Blue Jays. Asdrubal Cabrera drew a lead off walk. Richie Shaffer reached on a throwing error by Justin Smoak. With no outs and two runners on base Brett Cecil came in to pitch for the Jays. James Loney ground out but was able to advance the runners. Kevin Kiermaier reached base on a fielding error by Darwin Barney. Roberto Osuna came in to try and close out the game. Grady Sizemore and John Jaso hit back to back singles to score a couple more runs. But, Steven Souza and Evan Longoria were retired to close out the game.

Game Notes:

• Today had two of the better pitchers in the AL face each other. I think nobody saw how well both teams were going to hit. Both David Price and Chris Archer combined for only 8.2 IP. They were roughed up for 16 hits and 13 earned runs. The combined ERA was an ugly 14.27.
• Russell Martin matched his career best home run total with his 21st today. He was able to reach that mark in 2012 with the New York Yankees.
• Kevin Pillar picked up his 25th stolen base of the season. He is 25 for 28 for a healthy 89% success rate.
• Jose Bautista hit his 38th and 39th home runs of the season this afternoon marking his 5th multi home run game. This puts Jose on pace to reach the 40 home run plateau for the 3rd time in his career.

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Next: Blue Jays clinch playoff spot

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