10 key games so far for Jays
A closer look at outings that could have major impact on post-season positioning
The Blue Jays have won some games they had no business winning, and blown others that looked like sure things. It’s all part of the drama of a 162-game season.
So with the Jays just 2.5 games behind the Royals for the best record in the American League heading into Monday night’s games (and 3.5 games ahead of the Yankees in the East), here’s a recap of some games that could be the key to home-field advantage in the playoffs: THE BASEBALL GODS SMILED
April 18: Having dropped four of five and trailing Atlanta 4-0 at the Rogers Centre on a Saturday afternoon, the Jays roared back with Jose Bautista’s homer in the eighth before Josh Donaldson’s walkoff blast in the 10th — 6-5 Jays.
May 29: Mark Buehrle gave up four first-inning runs in Minneapolis, but Donaldson responded with a threerun homer in the fifth — his fourth straight game with a long ball — and Chris Colabello won it with a ninthinning homer — 6-4 Jays.
June 7: The Jays trailed the visiting Astros 6-4 in the bottom of the ninth when Houston shortstop Jonathan Villar tripped over Jays baserunner Jose Reyes while chasing a pop up at second base, keeping the inning alive until Colabello’s walkoff single — 7-6 Jays.
June 22: Starter Drew Hutchison got the hook in the fifth after three runs on nine hits against the Rays in Tampa.
Hutchison has been roughed up on the road all season, but has 13 wins because of games like this where the offence bailed him out — 8-5 Jays.
June 12: The most improbable of them all. The Red Sox chased Hutchison and led 8-1 at Fenway before the Jays sent nine to the plate in the seventh inning.
They all scored before the first out on the way to their ninth straight win — 13-10 Jays. ONES THAT GOT AWAY
July 12: After clawing all the way back from eight-run deficit with an eightspot in the sixth inning, keyed by a pair of K.C. errors, the Jays’ Bo Schultz served up a back-breaking homer to Royals rookie Paulo Orlan- do in the eighth — 11-10 Royals.
July 18: The Jays were in good shape against the Rays at the Rogers Centre behind six solid innings from R.A. Dickey, until relievers Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera served up solo shots in the seventh and eighth, re- spectively — 3-2 Rays.
June 15: Going for a club record-tying 12th straight win, the Jays went to extras against the Mets at Citi Field and took a 3-2 lead in the 11th. It didn’t last.
Brett Cecil was charged with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning — 4-3 Mets.
Aug. 14: After sweeping the Yankees in New York the previous weekend, Jays starter David Price had allowed 11 hits but, amazingly, no runs until Aaron Sanchez came on in relief in the eighth and served up a three-run bomb — 4-3 Yankees.
Aug. 1: One day after their stunning trade deadline dealing, the Jays lost the second game of a heated series with AL-leading Kansas City after newly acquired reliever Mark Lowe allowed three runs in the eighth inning — 7-6 Royals.