Jays sweep way to AL final
edge Rangers on Donaldson’s sprint home
TO RONTO – Josh Donaldson’s mad dash moved the Blue Jays into the next round of the playoffs.
Donaldson raced home from second base after Rougned Odor bounced a double-play relay in the 10th inning and Toronto beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 on Sunday night to sweep their AL Division Series.
Donaldson, the reigning AL MVP, led off the 10th with a double into the right-center field gap and Matt Bush intentionally walked Edwin Encarnacion.
After Jose Bautista struck out, Russell Martin hit a grounder to shortstop Elvis Andrus, who tried to start a double play with a feed to second base. After making the turn, second baseman Odor short- hopped his throw to first baseman Mitch Moreland and the ball skipped away, allowing Donaldson to sprint home and beat Moreland’s throw with a dive across the plate.
“I was at third base when the throw was being made,” Donaldson said. “Once I saw (Moreland) miss the pick, I felt like I had to take a chance right there.”
The wild- card Blue Jays are headed back to the AL Championship Series after beating Texas in an ALDS for a second straight year and will face the winner of the Cleveland-Boston series. The Indians lead 2-0, with Game 3 scheduled for Monday following a postponement Sunday. Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro, who spent 24 years with Cleveland before joining Toronto last fall, said he’d already reached out to one former Indians colleague about a potential ALCS meeting.