(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
  Toronto wins 2nd game in row to force 5th game vs. Texas!
Nederlands
 ARLINGTON, Texas (USA) -
After having lost the first two games at home, the Toronto Blue Jays won the next two games on the road to force a fifth and deciding game in their best-of-five American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.
On Monday (October 12), the Blue Jays struck early and went on to win 8-4 to equal their series.
With that, the series moved back to Canada, where Game Five will be played on Wedesday.
The Rangers are now 1-9 in home games all-time in League Division Series.
Its lone win came in Game 2 of the 2011 ALDS when Derek Holland (today's starter) was the winning pitcher.
It wasn't a good baseball-day for Texas, as earlier this afternoon in that state, Houston Astros failed to hold onto a 6-2 lead and lost 9-6 to the Kansas City Royals in their fourth game of the ALDS.
With that, this series also needs a fifth game.
Recap Astros vs. Royals
In the evening, the two NLDS continued with the Chicago Cubs hosting the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers playing at the New York Mets.
Starting pitchers this afternoon in Arlington were lefthander Derek Holland (4-3) for the Rangers and righthander R.A. Dickey (11-11) for the Blue Jays.
Derek Holland, who turned 29 last Thursday, pitched in his first postseason-game since 2012.
He earned two wins in four postseason-starts, including one in the 2011 World Series.
Holland also had pitched in relief in nine postseason-games.
This season, Holland pitched once against Toronto, which came in August.
The lefthander was sidelined with a shoulder-injury from April through the beginning of August.
R.A. Dickey made 33 starts this season for the Blue Jays.
The righthander struckout 126 batters in 214 1/3 inning, but didn't pitch this season against the Rangers.
Dickey is pitching in the Major League since 2001 and pitched for the Texas Rangers in his first five big league-seasons.
Dickey, who turns 41 on October 29, is with the Blue Jays since 2013.
While being in the Majors for 13 seasons, this was Dickey's first postseason-appearance!
And with his 40 years and 348 days, Dickey became the oldest pitcher in history to make a postseason-debut as a pitcher.
The Blue Jays struck early and held a 7-0 lead in the third inning.
The Canadian squad scored three runs in the first first at bat off of Derek Holland.
Ben Revere led off with a bunt-single (!), then scored when Josh Donaldson homered to give Toronto an early 2-0 lead.
With two outs, Chris Colabello also homered, making in a 3-0 score.
...Chris Colabello doubled and homered for Toronto...
...He scored twice and batted in two runs...
...On the photo, he hits for Team Italy during the...
...2012 European Championship in the Netherlands...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the first inning, Texas appeared to something back off of R.A.Dickey, as Shin-Soo Choo and Adrian Beltre (back in the line-up) singled with one out, but they stranded.
Toronto then added a run in the second when Kevin Pillar homered with one out.
In the top of the third inning, Toronto again rallied for three runs.
Josh Donaldson led off with a walk and José Bautista followed with a double, which led to an early exit for Holland.
Colby Lewis took over.
A run was then scored while Bautista was eliminated at third base on a grounder by Edwin Encarnacion, then Chris Colabello added a runscoring double.
After a flyout, Russell Martin walked, then Kevin Pillar singled to bring in the next run and lift the lead to 7-0.
Dickey retired the side in the second, including two strikeouts.
With two outs in the third, the veteran gave up singles to Shin-Soo Choo and Adrian Belte to put runners on first and third base.
A wild pitch then led to the first Texas-run, but Prince Fielder then lined out to centerfield to end the inning.
Dickey then retired the side again in the fourth.
Toronto was held scoreless from the fourth inning on and left two runners in both the fourth and fifth at bat.
In the bottom of the fifth, with one out, Dickey gave up a single to Robinson Chirinos, then Delino DeShields lined out to centerfield.
Despite having a 7-1 lead, R.A. Dickey was relieved hereafter, coming one out short to qualify for becoming the winning pitcher.
The veteran, who made his postseason-debut, was replaced by David Price, who then also saw a line drive being caught in the outfield to end the inning.
Price retired the side in the bottom of the sixth, then the Blue Jays added another run in the seventh.
With one out, Russell Martin doubled and scored on a single by Kevin Pillar to make it 8-1.
In the botom of the seventh, the Blue Jays turned a double play, but then David Price gave up a double to Rougned Odor.
Moments later, Odor scored the second Texan run on a single by Robinson Chirinos.
In the first two games of the series, Odor already scored five runs to become the first player in history to do so in his first two career postseason-games.
Overall, there have been seven other players who have scores five (or more) runs in the first two games of any series, including legendary Lou Gehrig, who did it in the 1932 World Series playing for the New York Yankees.
After Gehrig's feat, it took 52 years for the next player to do so.
In the bottom of the eighth, David Price saw the Rangers get back some runs.
Shin-Soo Choo led off with a single, then Prince Fielder singled with one out.
With runners on first and third base, Mitch Moreland grounded out, but that brought in Choo.
Next batter Elvis Andrus then singled up the middle, enabling Fielder to score from second base to narrow the deficit to 8-4.
That led to a pitching change, as Aaron Sanchez took over for Price and ended the at bat with a strikeout.
Reliever Roberto Osuna then closed the door for the Rangers by retiring the side in the ninth.
And with that, the Blue Jays had tied the series, which now will return to Toronto, where Game 5 will be played on Wednesday.
(October 12)
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