Angel win? There’s a Happ for that
On Thursday, with the Red Sox having lost in the afternoon — a ninth inning watched intently on Blue Jays’ clubhouse televisions — the home team had an opportunity to open up a one-game lead again over Boston. Instead, the Angels beat down the Jays 6-3 and the logjam atop the AL East continues, with the O’s nipping at the leaders’ heels.
At the core of the loss was a simple fact: Two convincing baseball streaks met at a “something’s got to give” crossroads. One had to end. Unfortunately for the Jays and impressive left-hander J.A. Happ, the streak that moves forward intact involves his inability to beat the Angels, having lost all five of his career starts with a 7.83 ERA over 23 innings.
The positive streak that Happ had hoped to extend was an 11-game winning streak, the longest active in the majors. The club record is 15, shared by Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay. A victory would have tied another club mark: 12-0 record in a span of 13 starts, set by Clemens and tied by Halladay. The 33-year-old Happ was also seeking to become MLB’s first 18-game winner of 2016.
Happ retired 13 batters in a row from the first inning through the fifth. He had never before completed five innings when facing the Angels and was cruising. But in the sixth, the curse of the Angels struck, as well as a line drive off his left foot by right fielder Kole Calhoun for an infield single that loaded the bases with nobody out. Happ threw one practice pitch for manager John Gibbons and the Jays’ training staff, but after a pair of RBI singles by Mike Trout and Albert Pujols he was gone.
Happ, in the midst of serious Cy Young conversation, faced five batters in the sixth, allowing four hits and a walk. He’ll make his next start Tuesday in Baltimore. Rule 5 reliever Joe Biagini entered and coaxed a double play and a flyball, and the Jays left the inning trailing by a pair.
The game marked the return of Jose Bautista to the Jays’ lineup after 15 days on the disabled list with a sprained left knee. With Devon Travis missing a third straight game because of a hand injury, Bautista was installed at leadoff and, in the second inning, delivered a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to centre field, giving the Jays the early lead.
In the fifth inning against soft-tossing righty Jered Weaver, third baseman Josh Donaldson crushed a homer into the flight deck in dead centre field, an estimated 453 feet. It was his 29th of the year and 82nd RBI. Bautista added an RBI double in the ninth.
In the sixth inning, Albert Pujols drove in his 100th run of the season, joining Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth with 13 seasons of 100 RBIs.
In the seventh, Trout completed the Angels’ scoring by driving in a pair of runs with a single to left off Joaquin Benoit.