As far as early August sequence go, this weekend’s showdown between the Red Sox and Blue Jays is as huge because it will get. The division rivals have been jockeying for place within the American League Wild Card hunt for months, and whoever comes out on prime right here at Fenway may set the tone for the race going ahead.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the Blue Jays wasted no time ensuring they struck first.
Toronto hit the ball everywhere in the yard in Friday night time’s sequence opener, powering 5 house runs — together with one on the primary pitch of the sport — to beat the Red Sox 7-3.
Though it was solely Toronto’s first win over Boston in eight tries this season, it got here at a very essential time, giving the Blue Jays three video games of separation within the Wild Card standings. No matter what occurs the remainder of the weekend, the Blue Jays are assured to go away Boston on Sunday in playoff place.
Making his first begin since Tuesday’s commerce deadline, James Paxton acquired hammered early by the Blue Jays, who have been seemingly roping line drives off the lefty at will. Whit Merrifield despatched Paxton’s first pitch of the sport into the Green Monster seats for a leadoff solo house run, and after George Springer flied out to deep left subject, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushed a cutter 387 ft into the Monster for an additional solo shot.
The following inning Paxton allowed a 3rd solo homer, this time a moonshot by rookie Davis Schneider in his first profession MLB at bat.
“Not ideal,” Paxton stated afterwards. “Left some balls out in the middle of the plate and they did damage. They’re good hitters.”
Things may have gotten quite a bit worse after the Blue Jays subsequently loaded the bases within the second, however Paxton acquired Guerrero to floor out to finish the menace. That wound up changing into a pattern for Toronto, who regardless of their prolific efficiency went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring place and stranded 9 males on base.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox closed the hole after Jarren Duran hit a two-run reverse subject house run to chop the deficit to 3-2 within the third. The Blue Jays made it 4-2 on a Springer RBI double within the fourth, however Paxton then acquired Guerrero to line out to finish the inning after which stranded two extra to complete his outing with a scoreless fifth.
The hassle for Boston was exterior of Duran, no one may appear to come back by with an enormous hit, both.
The Red Sox did not capitalize on a leadoff double by Masataka Yoshida within the fourth, and within the fifth Alex Verdugo struck out with runners on the corners. The Blue Jays struck for a fourth solo house run instantly afterwards when Daulton Varsho took reliever Mauricio Llovera deep, and Guerrero delivered an RBI double to stretch the result in 4 runs.
Yu Chang cranked a solo house run within the backside of the seventh to inch the Red Sox nearer, however the membership by no means significantly threatened once more.
Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah, who’s having a nightmare season and has continued to wrestle since getting back from his demotion to the minors, largely saved the Red Sox in examine. Though he allowed the 2 house runs, he completed his outing with three runs allowed over 6.2 innings, giving up six hits and two walks with 5 strikeouts.
“It was on and off, it was a weird game to be honest with you,” Red Sox supervisor Alex Cora stated. “They played good defense. I think (Manoah) was able to get outs when he needed to, we hit some balls hard, it was kind of a weird night offensively.”
Matt Chapman capped off the fireworks with a fifth solo house run within the prime of the ninth, tying Toronto’s season-high for homers in a sport, however whereas issues didn’t go their method the Red Sox projected an air of calm within the clubhouse afterwards.
“It’s one game, it’s over,” Duran stated. “We’re going to flush it. It’s baseball, it happens. They came out swinging, they got some good swings off early and we put up a couple of runs but it’s baseball, you’re going to win some, lose some, but we have confidence in ourselves. It’s just a game and we’re going to move on.”
The Red Sox fall to 57-52 and now stand three video games again of Toronto for the final AL Wild Card spot. The groups shall be again in motion Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 p.m.
Source: www.bostonherald.com