Red Sox seem bound for title run
The 2018 Boston Red Sox have the unmistakable look and feel of a championship team. Their win total headed to Toronto translated to 113 over a full 162 game season. That would be just three shy of the all-time mark of 116 W’s by the 2001 Mariners guided by manager Lou Piniella and GM Pat Gillick. That team was led by future Hall-of-Famers, Ichiro Suzuki and Edgar Martinez. When Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski felt that his starting rotation appeared fragile, with too many trips to the 10-day DL, he reached out and acquired Nathan Eovaldi from the Rays.
When Dustin Pedroia was shut down and no longer an option at second base, he reached out and snagged Ian Kinsler from the Angels. Earlier, when he felt a right-handed platoon option at first base would help the cause, he traded a minor-league shortstop to the Jays for Steve Pearce.
Make no mistake, this is no Cinderella story.
The Red Sox came to town in position for a short-term letdown after sweeping four from the Yankees in the Bronx. At the same time, Marcus Stroman was poised for a bounce-back after being banged around in Oakland.
Those possibilities proved solid for the first seven innings on Tuesday at Rogers Centre but devolved into a slugfest in the eighth as the game became a roller-coaster ride with each side blowing a save after taking the lead.
The end result was a 10-7 Boston victory led by three hits and four RBIs from J.D. Martinez, a 10th inning triple by probable AL MVP Mookie Betts followed by a Mitch Moreland towering three-run blast and a two-run homer by Jackie Bradley Jr. — all off newly acquired Jays’ closer Ken Giles.
For seven innings the contest followed the script. Stroman worked three no-hit innings and second baseman Devon Travis supported him by clubbing a two-run homer to the back of the second deck in left field in the bottom of the third.
Travis in 2018 is 12-for-38 (.316) with two homers, two triples and three RBIs in 10 games vs. the Red Sox. For his career, the 27-year-old second baseman has a .299 average with five homers and 15 RBIs against Boston.
However as Stroman nursed a 3-1 lead and readied himself to start the eighth, he was visited by Jays head trainer Nikki Huffman and quickly removed after a look at a blister on the middle finger of his right hand. Yet another blister.
Momentum shifted as Jays’ inconsistent setup man Ryan Tepera replaced the starter, giv- ing up three hits and a walk, capped by J.D. Martinez’s 34th homer of the season, a threerun blast to give the Sox their first lead. The buttons manager John Gibbons was pushing were by the book, but sometimes that’s not enough.
“You never know,” Gibbons had said in the pre-game. “Sometimes your best moves are backfiring and your worst moves come out smelling like a rose.”
Tepera over his last 11 games is 0-3, with one save and three blown saves, allowing three homers in 82⁄ innings with an ERA of 11.42. Giles, as a Blue Jays closer, has a 20.25 ERA in 22⁄ 3 innings.
The Jays sent it to extra innings bouncing back with one in the eighth on an RBI double by Luke Maile and tied it in the ninth on Justin Smoak’s solo homer off closer Craig Kimbrel, his 18th of the year.
Stroman was more than good enough for a win on this night. He worked his way through seven innings on just 92 pitches, with 16 of 21 outs via ground balls.
Stroman has now thrown at least 90 pitches in 12 of his 16 starts this season. Right shoulder issues seem a thing of the past. Now it’s all about the finger.