The game in five key moments,
Twists and turning points
Nothing to show The Jays jumped on Cleveland ace Corey Kluber early on Friday night, putting a pair in scoring position with one out in the first inning on a single up the middle by Josh Donaldson and double off the wall by Edwin Encarnacion. But Kluber managed to bear down to escape the threat, whiffing Jose Bautista on a slider — his go-to pitch — before inducing a weak groundout from Russell Martin. The opening inning turned out to be a harbinger of what was to come for the Jays as they stranded a runner in scoring position in each of the first four frames. In the wild-card game and division series, the Jays hit a remarkable 11-for-23 (.478) with runners in scoring position. On Friday, they went 0-for-5, stranding eight total runners. Kipnis robs Pillar These are two of the best defensive teams in baseball. In fact, this season they ranked first and second, respectively, in the American League in terms of defensive efficiency, which is the rate at which teams convert balls in play into outs. Where Cleveland particularly stands out is infield defence, which was brightly on display in the fourth inning when second baseman Jason Kipnis robbed Kevin Pillar of a base hit with a diving snag of a ground ball that looked destined to find a hole. The out helped Kluber escape the inning unscathed as the Jays left yet another runner on base. Travis limps off The Jays added Ryan Goins to their ALCS roster specifically in case Devon Travis’s right knee flared up to the point where he would be unable to play. It took only five innings for that scenario to present itself as Travis, who missed Games 2 and 3 against Texas due to a bone bruise in his right knee, exited the game after appearing to tweak his knee when covering first base on a bunt play. But even before that the 25-year-old second baseman didn’t look right, either in the field or when he was running the bases. If he is added to the disabled list he would be ineligible for the World Series, so the Jays may keep him on the roster, even if he can’t play, while platooning Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney at second. Lindor goes deep In the regular season there were 66 occasions in which Marco Estrada faced a batter with an 0and-2 count. More than half the time — 34 times to be exact — he struck out the batter with his next pitch. Only once did he allow a home run. But that’s exactly what Cleveland’s dynamic young shortstop, Francisco Lindor, did in the sixth inning, tattooing Estrada’s 0-and-2 changeup to break the scoreless tie with a game-winning two-run homer. Estrada’s changeup is one of the best pitches in baseball and Lindor swung through one to start the at-bat. But when Estrada tried to go back to it to put Lindor away, the 22-year-old all-star was on to him and made him pay. It was Estrada’s lone blemish in an otherwise sterling outing. Miller shuts door Much has already been made of the crucial role Andrew Miller has played in this post-season as Cleveland’s versatile, any-inning shutdown reliever, who can snuff out a rally at any point in the game with demoralizing consistency. Cleveland’s most important trade-deadline acquisition led all relievers by striking out nearly 44.7 per cent of the batters he faced. He struck out 83.3 per cent of the Jays he faced on Friday night, whiffing five of six batters including Edwin Encarnacion, Bautista and Martin in order in the eighth — after Donaldson fought off a tough slider for a leadoff single — to nullify the Jays’ best chance at a comeback.