Blue Jays sweep Red Sox to tie record streak.
All aspects of team clicking in 11-game streak
• Dustin Pedroia lost two pop-ups in the sun, setting up six Blue Jays runs. Toronto’s three primary power hitters didn’t hit a single homer, but Ryan Goins, who almost never goes deep, whacked a three-run shot. Kevin Pillar made another of his eye-popping catches and continued his hot hitting. Marco Estrada gave up five runs and was rewarded with a W behind his name.
There you have the essence of the latest victory in the Blue Jays 11-game streak. They got the breaks, and offensive contributions from the lesser lights, and solid defence, and pitching that was good enough, which isn’t so hard when your offence scores 13 runs.
The Jays pummelled the Red Sox 13-5 to complete the weekend sweep at Fenway Park. Their streak matches a franchise record, set three times before. During those 11 games, Toronto has outscored its opponents 90-40 and hit .473 with runners in scoring position.
Of course it’s not sustainable. The Jay s may have their hands full in New York against the Mets on Monday and Tuesday, when they face Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey. But plenty of folks also thought Eduardo Rodriguez, the rookie Red Sox fireballer, might end the streak on Sunday. They scored nine runs off him in 42/3 innings.
The Jays claim they are focusing on the old “win-today” bromide rather than the length of the streak. Unlike the dog days of April and May, suddenly they are believing instead of hoping.
Goins took that a step higher.
“I think everybody’s coming here every day knowing we’re going to win,” he said. “You put that with having the best one-through-six (lineup) probably in the whole league, and it makes it easy being seven-eight-nine. We’re just trying to have good at-bats and turn the lineup over to the big boys.”
Throughout the weekend series, the big boys could be found at the bottom of the order. Pillar and Goins, who bat eighth and ninth, had two hits in each game. On Sunday, Goins drove in a career-high five runs with a homer and a triple. He and Pillar were in the middle of rallies in all three games. The No. 7 hitter, Danny Valencia, hit a two-run homer on Sunday.
Over three games, the Jays outscored the Red Sox 31-19 without a homer from Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion. But those three delivered 10 hits, all singles, and let the rest of the lineup do the heavier lifting.
When someone mentioned that gaudy team batting average with runners in scoring position, Pillar was not surprised.
“That goes along with not seeing as many home runs,” he said. “I think guys are just really trying to get the next guy up there, and maybe shorten (swings) a little bit, try to use the whole field, take what the pitcher gives us.”
That applies to any situation, no matter the score, Goins added.
“We’re not going to give at-bats away — 6-0, 10-0, 1-0, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’ve got a lineup full of pros that are going to go out there and give their best atbat every time.”
And then there are the breaks. The Jays could thank the sun for a couple on Sunday.
Pedroia, Boston’s all-star second baseman, was twice sun-blinded as he tried to locate routine pop-ups. Each time, they represented the third out. Each time, they advanced a rally.
In the first inning, Boston loaded the bases against Estrada with one out. Xander Bogaerts hit line drive that looked like it could penetrate armour. Donaldson caught it and turned it into a double play.
A day earlier, Bautista was lauding his team for finally synchronizing strong pitching, offence and defence during its streak. Then he thought of another factor, which seemed absent when the Jays were doing their beached-whale imitation in April and May.
“It seems like we’re getting some breaks our way as well,” Bautista said. “Before, it seemed like every little mistake cost us a win, and now it doesn’t.”
The Blue Jays were seven games under .500 when the streak began. Now they’re four games over, and one game behind the first-place Yankees.
“It’s a good and it’s a long lineup,” manager John Gibbons said. “And we’re feeling good right now. We’re hot. When you’re hot, things go your way. It’s a good feeling in there and everybody’s confident. It was a fun series.”
At long last, and for the time being, the Blue Jays are winning as a collective. For Jays fans, that’s the most encouraging part of it all.
Next challenge: keeping it going without a proven closer. Over to you, Alex Anthopoulos.