Combined with the Yankees losing
three of their four games with the Cleveland Indians, the Baltimore Orioles
being swept at home in a four game series against the Twins, this weekend’s
sweep has strengthened the Jays hold on a playoff spot.
First of all, they’ve hopped
over the Yanks into first place by a half-game. Baltimore is now six and a half
behind and the Angels have dropped behind the Texas Rangers by a game and a
half in the race for the second wild card spot.
R.A. Dickey had a rough start
today as he allowed five runs in the first inning, but five shutout innings
followed, good enough to pick up his eighth win of the season. The Jays bats
bombed the Angels pitching staff for 17 hits, highlighted by back to back home
runs by Jose Bautista (his 29th homer of the season) and Edwin
Encarnacion (24) in a three run third inning that helped erase the early four
run deficit. The Jays scored in seven of the game's innings en route to a 12-5
win.
MVP candidate Josh Donaldson was at it again, as he was all weekend, with
two hits and two runs scored. Troy Tulowitzki, Bautista, Encarnacion, Kevin
Pillar and Ben Revere also had multiple hit games. With the exception of the
bottom of the first inning, the Jays were in complete control of the game and
never looked like they were in any danger of losing the finale of the series.
Saturday’s game was much the same. Three runs in the third inning and
another seven scored in the fourth, put the Jays up 10-0, and they cruised to a
15-3 wing. Again, Donaldson led the way, going four for five, including his 34th
home run of the season and six RBIs. Bautista was three for five including his
third triple of the season, and Chris Colabello was also three for five
including his twelfth home run of the season. Marco Estrada picked up his 11th
win of the season allowing three runs in five and two-third innings pitched. The bullpen held the Angels scoreless in this one as well.
On Friday, it was also Donaldson leading the charge with two hits in
three official plate appearances with three RBI. For the weekend, Donaldson was
8 for 13 with a home run and nine RBI, which brings his season total to 100,
the first time in his career he has reached that mark.
And it was David Price who picked up the victory, his twelfth of 2015,
tossing eight innings, allowing only two runs and striking out nine in the 9-2 win.
This weekend was pure dominance against a team that many considered a
contender for the World Series just a short month ago. The Jays are a legitimate contender
and have been since the Kansas City series back in July. There’s still six
weeks to go and after a day off on Monday, they will head to Arlington, Texas
to take on the Rangers who have been on a bit of a roll as of late.
With just over a week to go before September, the Jays are giving their
fans something to look forward to as we get closer to the stretch drive: post
season baseball.
In my Friday post, I also mentioned that another big series happening
this weekend was an interleague match-up between the AL West leading Houston
Astros and the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers. The Astros ended up sweeping
this series, including a no-hitter being thrown by Astros’ hurler, Mike Fiers
on Friday night, a game that ended in a 3-0 score. Fiers struck out ten while
walking three in what was the first no-hitter at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.
Game two was won 3-1 on Saturday with Scott Kazmir out-dueling Dodger ace Zach
Greinke and on Sunday it was a walk off tenth-inning homerun by Jason Castro
that game the Astros a 3-2 win.
The sweep now gives Houston a four game lead over the Rangers in the AL
West, while the Dodgers’ lead in the NL West has shrunk to one.
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