(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Toronto avoids sweep and forces 4th game in ALDS vs. Texas
Nederlands
 ARLINGTON, Texas (USA) -
The Toronto Blue Jays registered a convincing 5-1 win vs. Texas Rangers on Sunday-evening (October 11) in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.
With that, Toronto avoided a sweep and forced a fourth game, which will be played on Monday.
A 3-run homerun by Troy Tulowitzki highlighted the game.
For the Blue Jays, this was their first postseason-victory since 1993.
The Rangers won the first two games of the series in Toronto.
After winning the opener 5-3, a 14-inning marathon followed on Friday, resulting in a 6-4 win for the Rangers.
Recap Game 1, Texas vs. Toronto
Recap Game 2, Texas vs. Toronto
Earlier today, also in Texas, the Houston Astros took a 2-1 lead in their ALDS vs. Kansas City Royals by winning 4-2.
Recap Game 3, Houston vs. Kansas City
During this game, it was announced that Chase Utley of the Los Angeles Dodgers was suspended for Games 3 and 4 of the NLDS by MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre for his takeout slide during Game 2 on Saturday.
That sliding resulted in short stop Ruben Tejada breaking his right leg.
The Dodgers resume their series vs. New York Mets on Monday-evening.
Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Utley will appeal the decision.
In a press release, Torre said ''that Utley's action warrants discipline''.
He continued with ,,While I sincerely believe that Mr. Utley had no intention of injuring Ruben Tejada, and was attempting to help his Club in a critical situation, I believe his slide was in violation of Official Baseball Rule 5.09 (a)(13), which is designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base.
We have been in discussions with the Players Association throughout the year regarding potential rule changes to better protect middle infielders and we intend to continue those discussions this offseason.''
Starting pitchers tonight were 24-year old Venezuelan lefthander Martín Pérez (3-6) for the Rangers and 32-year old Mexican righthander Marco Estrada (13-8) for the Blue Jays.
Martín Pérez made his postseason-debut.
Earlier this season, the lefthander was on the 60-day disabled list and returned to action on July 17.
That was his first appereance more than a year.
In between, he underwent 'Tommy John' ligament replacement surgery to repair a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow.
Pérez never pitched against Toronto before.
Tonight, his catcher was fellow-Venezuelan Robinson Chirinos.
That marked the fourth time in postseason-history that a starting pitcher/catcher-combination came from Venezuela.
Marco Estrada struckout 131 batters in 181 innings this season, his first with the Blue Jays after having pitched the previous five seasons for the Milwauke Brewers.
This was his fifth postseason-game.
The previous four, he pitched in 2011, all in relief, while being with the Brewers.
Before the game Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams threw out the ceremonial first pitch, while Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez was the catcher.
Rodriguez played 13 seasons for Texas.
Former President and former Texas Rangers-owner George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush attended the game.
...Ivan Rodriguez caught the ceremonial...
...first pitch before tonight's game...
...Here, he plays for Puerto Rico vs. the...
...Netherlands National Baseball Team...
...on the 2009 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Both starting pitchers retired the side in the first two innings.
But the Blue Jays then opened the score in the top of the third inning.
Dioner Navarro led off with a double into deep centerfield, then moved to third base on an infield-hit by Kevin Pillar.
Hereafter, Ryan Goins grounded into a double play, but that enabled Navarro to score and give Toronto the lead.
31-year old Dioner Navarro plays in the Major League since 2004.
He plays for Toronto since 2014, but played in only 54 games this season.
Tonight, he was the catcher for the Canadian squad and made his first appearance during this years ALDS.
But the Venezuelan played in the postseason before in 2008 (Tampa Bay Rays) and 2012 (Cincinnati Reds).
In the bottom of the third inning, the Rangers left a runner in scoring position.
With two outs, Hanser Alberto (who again filled in for injured Adrian Beltre) hit a ground-rule double, but he was left behind.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Blue Jays added another run.
Josh Donaldson led off with a double, then advanced to third base after José Bautista flied out.
To set up a force play, but also to pitch around Edwin Encarnacion, an intentional walk followed, despite having only one out, but hoping for a double play.
But that didn't work immediately.
First, Chris Colabello received a 'normal' walk and that loaded the bases.
Next, Troy Tulowitzki also walked to bring in a run.
Hereafter, the double play-grounder followed, but Toronto now led 2-0.
Toronto got close to adding another run in the fifth, but that was prevented by a great defensive play.
Kevin Pillar led off with a single, then advanced when an outfield-error followed.
He moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt.
Next, Ben Revere lined towards second.
There, while part of the broken bat also approached, second baseman Rougned Odor made a great catch.
Pillar had left on the hit and had no chance of returning to third base, so Odor was able to complete an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the fifth, Josh Hamilton singled for Texas with one out, but was left behind.
This was Hamilton's first basehit in his last 32 postseason at bats, dating back to Game 7 of the 2011 World Series!
In the top of the sixth, Toronto loaded the bases with no outs.
Josh Donaldson led off with a single and José Bautista followed with a single that out runners at the corners.
Chi Chi Gonzalez then took over the pitching for Pérez, but loaded the bases by walking Edwin Encarnacion.
Hereafter, Chris Colabello grounded into a nice 3-2-3 double play, which was the Rangers' third double play in three consecutive innings.
But then, the Blue Jays added more runs, as Troy Tulowitzki followed with a 3-run homerun to lift the lead to 5-0.
The Rangers finally were able to get a run back in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With one out, Elvis Andrus singled.
Hereafter, Josh Hamilton also singled to bring Andrus to third, while he himself advanced on an error.
Aaron Loup was then brought in to relief starter Marco Estrada.
A grounder by Rougned Odor followed to bring in Andrus and also resulted in another pitchig change.
Mark Lowe took over and closed with a strikeout.
That was to be all for the Rangers and so, the series continues on Monday.
(October 11)
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