September 11, 2016
...
The ball sailed directly over the visiting team bullpen in right
field and into the bleachers. David Ortiz had done it again, his
three-run homer in the sixth inning giving the Red Sox the lead in a
back-and-forth game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
First they
looked up and then at each other. The relievers knew it would be up to them to
secure what would be an important win. All the pieces of the puzzle fit. The
untrustworthy and unloved Sox bullpen shut down the Jays over the final innings
as the Sox came away with a satisfying 11-8 victory.
Once Ortiz
gave the Sox a 10-8 lead, five relievers shut the Blue Jays down. Brad Ziegler
started it by getting five outs. He carved up the middle of Toronto's order
striking out three of the six batters he faced.
Fernando
Abad entered in the seventh inning and got pinch hitter Melvin Upton Jr. to
ground to third. Travis Shaw's error put Upton on, but Barnes came in and got
Kevin Pillar to ground into a force.
Koji
Uehara pitched a scoreless eighth. Craig Kimbrel walked Edwin Encarnacion to
start the ninth but stranded him for his 25th save. The Sox used eight relievers
in all and they allowed two runs in six innings.
Robbie
Ross Jr., who got two outs in the fifth, didn't even realize he was the winning
pitcher until well after the game. There were 18 pitchers used in the game as
the teams combined for 19 hits and 13 walks.
Toronto
used eight relievers and they allowed five runs on six hits over 51/3 innings.
The
respective starters were equally terrible. Clay Buchholz allowed six runs on
four hits and four walks over three innings. He had a 4-1 lead going into the
third inning and melted. He loaded the bases with one out and walked Russell
Martin on four pitches to force in a run. Troy Tulowitzki expected a first-pitch
fastball, got it, and hammered it to left field for a grand slam. It was the
first extra-base hit for Tulowitzki in 14 games against the Sox since the Blue
Jays obtained him from Colorado in July 2015.
Toronto
starter Aaron Sanchez gave up a three-run homer to Jackie Bradley Jr. in the
second inning. When the Jays gave him a 5-4 lead, Sanchez coughed that up in the
fourth. Bradley singled with two outs and went to third when Dustin Pedroia
doubled. Both scored on a single up the middle by Xander Bogaerts. Sanchez was
charged with six runs on five hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.
Heath
Hembree, the first Red Sox reliever, allowed a two-run homer by Encarnacion in
the fourth inning. The ball nearly flew into a luxury suite on the third level
in left field. It was his second of the game. Encarnacion has 39 home runs and
115 RBIs. He will command a hefty contract in free agency, perhaps from the Red
Sox.
Down 8-6,
the Sox scored the final five runs. Hanley Ramirez had a home run into the
second deck in center field, his 23d of the season, in the fifth inning. Brock
Holt walked and went to third on an error in the inning. With two outs, two on,
and Bradley up, Holt tried a straight steal of home against lefty Aaron Loup and
was tagged out when the pitcher stepped off the rubber and threw to Martin, the
catcher.
Pedroia
and Bogaerts had one-out singles in the sixth inning. Toronto manager John
Gibbons went to Joaquin Benoit to face Ortiz. Ortiz had a grand slam off Benoit
in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS when the right-hander was with the Detroit Tigers.
This time Ortiz settled for a three-run shot. Ortiz hit a changeup in '13 and
Benoit tried the same pitch this time.
Holt
walked and scored on Sandy Leon's double in the seventh inning.
Given the circumstances, this was the best win of the
season The Sox took two of three from the Jays and lead the American League East
by two games with 20 to play. Toronto is hardly finished. But the reeling Blue
Jays have dropped seven of nine.
