Blue Jays stay alive in Texas with a huge 5-1 win

39. Final. 1. 126. 5

Happy Thanks Giving to all of our Canadian fans. Today was a treat of turkey, stuffing, wine, mashed potatoes, wine, pumpkin pie, and of course wine. To top it all off we got another Blue Jays playoff game. Sadly the first two games did not go as planned for the Blue Jays. Trying to avoid the sweep the Blue Jays traveled to Arlington and sent out Marco Estrada to the mound. The Rangers countered with Martin Perez who was 3-6 in 14 starts this season.

The first hit of the game was Dioner Navarro. Dioner hit a lead off double in the top of the 3rd inning. Kevin Pillar followed that up with an infield single that was hit to Elvis Andrus who ate the ball on a diving stab. That setup 1st and 3rd with no outs for Ryan Goins. Ryan hit into a double play but Dioner Navarro was able to score on the play. Ben Revere ground out to end the inning but the Blue Jays took a 1 run lead.

The Texas Rangers picked up their first hit of the game on a two out double by Hanser Alberto to center field.

In the top of the 4th inning Josh Donaldson hit a lead off double to right center field. Jose Bautista hit a pop up for the 1st out of the inning. Edwin Encarnacion, Chris Colabello, and Troy Tulowitzki were all issued 3 straight walks. Troy picked up an RBI on the free pass. With the bases loaded still and only one out Dioner Navarro hit into an inning ending double play to bail out Perez from giving up a truck load of runs.

In the top of the 5th inning Kevin Pillar led off with a single to center field. Kevin was able to advance to 2nd base on a fielding error by Delino DeShields. Ryan Goins dropped down a bunt to advance Pillar to 3rd base on the sacrifice. Ben Revere hit a broke bat liner to 2nd base that Rougned Odor made a line play to catch and double off Pillar to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 5th inning Josh Hamilton picked up a one out single to right field. Marco was able to pitch his way out of the inning after a strike out and pop up.

Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista opened up the 6th inning with back to back singles ending the night for Martin Perez. The Rangers brought in Chi Chi Gonzalez to face Edwin Encarnacion with runners on 1st and 3rd and no outs. Edwin drew a walk on a tough at bat to load up the bases with no outs. Chris Colabello hit into a 3-2-3 double play. That left runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs for Troy Tulowitzki. Troy hit a three run home run to deep left field to break open the scoring.

With one out in the bottom of the 7th inning Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton hit back to back singles. That was the end of the line for Marco Estrada. Aaron Loup entered the game and picked up a ground ball out by Rougned Odor. Mark Lowe then came in to pitch and face Robinson Chirinos and picked up a huge strike out to end the inning.

Justin Smoak entered the game as a defensive replacement for Chris Colabello in the bottom of the 8th. Aaron Sanchez also entered the game as the new pitcher for the Blue Jays. Aaron was able to pick up a clean 1-2-3 inning.

Roberto Osuna came in to the 9th inning and picked up a clean 1-2-3 inning to secure the Blue Jays first post season win.

Game Notes:

Marco was Marco tonight. Of the 19 outs he recorded 10 were pop ups, line drives, or fly outs.
The Blue Jays failed to break open the scoring much sooner than they could have. They hit into 4 double plays that erased plenty of potential runs.
Troy Tulowitzki got off the schneid in a big way with a three run home run in the 6th inning. His previous 0 for 11 completely forgotten after that blast.
David Price got up and started to warm up in the 7th and 8th innings. He was not needed in the game.

Grades:

Until the home run by Tulowitzki it seemed like the offense was going to have to dig and pick up a dirty win. They kept hitting into double plays when they could cash in several runs. They were able to pick up a couple runs the hard way before the Tulo blast. As usual with Toronto if they pick up 5 runs they often seem to win. Josh Donaldson picked up a couple hits and a run. Edwin Encarnacion had a couple walks and a run. Kevin Pillar picked up a couple hits. But, it was Tulo who picked up the big game with 2 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, and 1 R. . Game Ball. Troy Tulowitzki. OFFENSE . B+

A. Marco was on point tonight. This was a key game for him and for the Blue Jays. His change up was stellar. He mixed in the odd curveball which seemed to drop in for a strike more often than not. His fastball topped out at 90 but fooled the Rangers all night. I feel like he may have been able to finish the 7th inning but he was on a short leash entering the inning. With a pitch count of only 89 pitches through 6.1 he could easily pitch on short rest if needed to start the ALCS (if the Jays can pull that off). His final line was a sparkling 6.1 IP with 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, and 4 K.. . Marco Estrada. STARTING PITCHER

Game Ball. Aaron Sanchez. BULLPEN . A+. The bullpen did it again. They were on point and picked up the remaining 2.2 innings for Marco Estrada. Aaron Loup, Mark Lowe, Aaron Sanchez, and Roberto Osuna did their jobs. They all combined for 2.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, and 2 K.

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