Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Aaron Sanchez (Toronto) and righthander Colby Lewis (Texas).
Sanchez was 15-2 this season with a 3.00 ERA.
The righthander started 30 games and struckout 161 batters in 192 innings.
He was 6-1 at home.
His 3.00 ERA was the lowest in the American League this season and he became the fifth Toronto-pitcher in history to lead the league in this category.
With his 24 years and 193 days, Sanchez was the youngest pitcher to lead the American League in ERA since Roger Clemens, who was 24 years and 62 days old when he won the ERA-title in 1986.
This season, Sanchez pitched twice against the Rangers, both times in May and both outings ended in a no-decision.
36-year old Lewis was 6-5 this year and finished with a 3.71 ERA.
This season, Lewis faced the Blue Jays twice, which also came in May and both were a no-decision.
In his career, Lewis pitched in 13 games againt the Blue Jays and is 3-6.
Tonight, he made his first postseason start since 2011.
In postseason, Lewis had pitched in nine games before and was 4-1.
Last year, he made only one relief-appearance for the Rangers during postseason.
Initially, Texas struck first, scoring a run in the top of the first inning.
Aaron Sanchez walked lead-off hitter Carlos Gomez, who then stole second base and advanced on a grounder by Ian Desmond.
Moments later, Gomez scored the first run on a grounder by Carlos Beltran.
The lead was shortlived, as the Blue Jays answered with three runs in its first at bat and again used the long ball to do the scoring.
Colby Lewis gave up a lead-off single to Ezequiel Carrera, but followed with a strikeout for Josh Donaldson.
Hereafter, Edwin Encarnacion again made good contact and belted his third homerun of the postseason to give Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Lewis then struckout José Bautista, but then Russell Martin also drilled the ball into left-centerfield for a homerun to make it 3-1.
...Russell Martin accounted for the...
...game-winning hit in tonight's game...
...On the photo, he plays for the..
...New York Yankees in 2011...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Texas got a run back in the top of the third inning when Elvis Andrus led off with a homerun.
However, Toronto also scored again in its third at bat.
Ezequiel Carrera led off with a single, stole second base and scored on a ground-rule double by Josh Donaldson.
That led to a pitching change, as Tony Barnette took over from Lewis, who is known for giving up runs in the first and second inning, as his ERA in those innings is almost 6.00.
Moments later, Donaldson scored the next run on a single by Edwin Encarnacion to make it 5-2.
Texas narrowed the deficit to 5-4 in the top of the fourth inning.
Carlos Beltran led off with a walk, but was forced out on a grounder by Adrian Beltre.
Hereafter, Rougned Odor hit a line drive into deep centerfield for a 2-run homerun.
In the top of the fifth inning, Aaron Sanchez struckout the side.
Sanchez was relieved in the top of the sixth inning.
With two outs, the righthander walked Rougned Odor, then gave up a single to Jonathan Lucroy.
That brought out Manager John Gibbons to the mound and he brought in Joe Biagini.
But he was greeted with a 2-run double by Mitch Moreland that gave the Rangers a 6-5 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Toronto got the bases loaded with one out and came alongside.
Reliever Jeremy Jeffress then gave up a single to Troy Tulowitzki and was relieved by Jake Diekman.
He gave up a double to pinch-hitter Melvin Upton, Jr., then walked Kevin Pillar intentionally to set up a force play.
That led to the next pitching change, as Keone Kela replaced Diekman.
A foul-pop followed, but then Kela threw his next pitch in the ground, which was ruled a passed ball and enabled Tulowitzki to score the tying run.
With runners on second and third base, the inning ended when Ezequiel Carrera lined out to rightfield where Nomar Mazara made a running catch.
Mazara made his postseason debut on Friday in Game 2.
At the age of 21 year, 164 days, he was the second youngest player to play for the Rangers in a postseason.
The youngest is Jurickson Profar, who was 19 years and 228 days old when he made his postseason-debut for the Rangers in the 2012 Wild Card Game.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Matt Bush became the new pitcher for the Rangers and struckout the side.
He struckout his fourth consecutive batter int he ninth when he also retired the side.
As the game was still tied at 6-6, it went into extra innings.
In the bottom of the tenth, Bush returned to the mound for his third inning, something he had never done before in his career.
Bush gave up a lead-off double to Josh Donaldson, then walked Edwin Encarnacion intentionally.
Hereafter, Bush struckout José Bautista.
Next batter (and Canadian) Russell Martin then hit the ball to short stop Elvis Andrus for a possible double play-grounder.
Encarnacion was forced out on second base, but then second baseman Rougned Odor made a throwing error towards first base.
In the meantime, Donaldson advanced to third base and kept on running while the Rangers attempted to complete the double play.
First baseman Mitch Moreland turned around to throw the ball to catcher Jonathan Lucroy, but Donaldson slid in head first around him and touched the plate to score the winning run.
Texas-Manager Jeff Banister asked for a challenge regarding the sliding towards second base by Encarnacion.
But after contact with the replay-umpires, Crew Chief Joe West signaled that there was no interference and with that, the game ended, thanks to the great baserunning by Donaldson.
Toronto won 7-6 and advances to League Championship Series.
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Toronto sweeps Texas to advance to League Championship Series
TORONTO, Ontario (Canada) -
Toronto Blue Jays won 7-6 in ten innings in Game 3 of the best-of-five American League Division Series on Sunday-evening (October 9) to sweep Texas Rangers.
With this, Toronto recorded its first-ever series-sweep in a postseason and advanced to the League Championship Series.
This best-of-seven begins next Friday in either Boston or Cleveland.
Toronto won the first two games in Arlington (Texas).
On Thursday, the Canadian squad opened with a big 10-1 victory.
The next day, the Blue Jays won 5-2, despite being outhit 13-6.