The Toronto Blue Jays evened up the series in Boston on Tuesday with a 5-1 win over the Red Sox. The score doesn’t tell the whole story here, as this game was tight throughout with the Blue Jays repeatedly failing to cash in runners. A clutch single from Troy Tulowitzki in the 10th inning would seal the Blue Jays victory, handing the win to Aaron Sanchez after a great start from R.A. Dickey. With New York losing to Baltimore, the Jays are now 1.5 games up in the AL East!
Game Notes:
- The Blue Jays were gambling early, pulling off a successful double-steal with Ben Revere and Jose Bautista in the 1st inning. This killed a double-play possibility with Encarnacion at the dish, and soon brought in Revere on a slow groundout up the middle.
- Travis Shaw struck for the second straight game, taking Dickey deep to right field in the 2nd. He’s hit his eighth and ninth home runs of the season in this series.
- Fast forward to the 6th inning, where Troy Tulowitzki would reach base on Henry Owens with a single back up the middle. After moving to third base on a balk and wild pitch, the Blue Jays wasted a prime opportunity when Kevin Pillar hit into an untimely double play. There’s been a few of those in this series.
- Toronto had a golden opportunity in the 8th, but again fell flat with a runner in scoring position. After Jose Bautista reached on a two-foot dribbler that didn’t make it to first cleanly, Edwin Encarnacion was hit by a pitch (the third Blue Jay beamed on the night). Troy Tulowitzki and Chris Colabello would strike out, however, and Kevin Pillar would end the inning by lining out to Pablo Sandoval.
- Russell Martin entered the game for Josh Thole in the 6th and continued to dominate defensively. Rusney Castillo ran for David Ortiz in the bottom of the 9th, and Martin gunned him down trying to steal second base. It wasn’t close, either.
- Josh Donaldson led off the 10th with a triple (that maybe should have been a home run) off the top of the Green Monster. Troy Tulowitzki would single in the go-ahead run, and there’s no finer way to kickstart his average-so-far tenure with the Jays.
- Chris Colabello would then score Dalton Pompey (PR for Encarnacion) who was on the move from second base. It was a classic Colabello clutch knock: a grounder that barely squeaked through the infield. Thankfully, they all count the same. Alexi Ogando would then balk in Tulowitzki to make it 4-1.
- With Chris Colabello then advancing to third base, he scored on a Kevin Pillar sac fly after Colabello’s slide forced the ball out of Swihart’s glove. Good things follow the man around.
Blue Jays Grades:
MVJ: R.A. Dickey
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