Hill baffles Blue Jays
Strikes out 10 again
TORONTO — Rich Hill was blowing 91 mph fastballs by Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson yesterday. Two of the most powerful hitters in the game were fooled, and they weren’t the only ones.
Hill struck out 10 again, this time against the best offense in baseball, and he did it with a heavy dose of two pitches — a low-90s heater and a looping curveball — while sprinkling in the occasional changeup.
It might not be much to look at it — Rays hitters basically spit on Hill’s stuff last weekend, calling it average after they recorded just one hit — but Hill has been strangely effective in two major league starts, this time leading the Red Sox to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.
“We played really well tonight,” Hill said. “That’s really all I could ask, is to go out there and stay in the moment with each pitch.”
The Red Sox entered the series with nothing to play for but pride, but found a way to take two out of three from the first-place Blue Jays. And the Sox will finish the season with a winning record (10-9) against Toronto.
The Blue Jays’ big bats put a dent into pitches thrown by right-hander Rick Porcello on Friday night, but were otherwise miffed by a pair of lefties, Wade Miley on Saturday and Hill yesterday.
Remember, just a month ago Hill was pitching for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, and two months earlier had been released by the Washington Nationals after his whacky throwing style led to 21 walks in 212⁄ innings with their Triple-A affiliate.
Hill said he finally found the perfect arm angle while in Long Island, and he has returned to the Red Sox looking like their best pitcher.
The Blue Jays got to him for three runs in the second inning. Dioner Navarro hit a two-run home run to left field, and three singles later Toronto had a 3-0 lead. But the Sox hung in there, scrapping together runs on infield singles, errors and a few clutch hits, giving Hill a chance to stage a comeback.
Hill filled the strike zone with curveballs that the Blue Jays simply couldn’t handle. And when they swung and missed at a fastball and the radar gun barely lit up, the only logical explanation was that Toronto was guessing curve and 90 mph from Hill looked like 100 mph from anyone else.
“He’s comfortable and confident, and those are really good ingredients,” Sox interim manager Torey Lovullo said.
Hill became the first Red Sox starter to strike out at least 10 in back-to-back games since Felix Doubront did it in 2012. Jon Lester is the only other Red Sox pitcher in the last 10 years to accomplish the feat.
“It’s something that you don’t expect for somebody that’s resurrected his career as a starter and as in Independent baseball at some point this year,” Lovullo said. “It’s been a tremendous lift, and exactly what we needed.”
Panda rumbles home
The Sox scored the goahead run in the eighth inning thanks to Pablo Sandoval’s legs. Sandoval reached first base on an error, eventually made his way to third and scored on a sacrifice fly hit by Jackie Bradley Jr.
It was a hold-your-breath moment when the 255-pound Sandoval chugged down the third base line, and the hard throw from Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar was right on the money.
Sandoval didn’t even slide, but the ball bounced off the catcher, Navarro, and he scored anyway.
Sandoval had been dealing with a fever of 101 degrees, according to Lovullo, and the Red Sox removed him from the game after he scored the run due to “lightheadedness.”
Get another chance
He almost throws sidearmed, but Noe Ramirez was effective as the set-up man.
Ramirez was drafted in the fourth round in 2011 out of California State-Fullerton, where he was a polished starting pitcher. But the Red Sox knew he could reach the majors quickly as a reliever and transitioned him to the bullpen in 2012.
With a career 2.87 ERA and almost one strikeout per inning in the minors, Ramirez rejoined the Sox this September and has already found himself on the mound with the game on the line.
He failed his first test on Saturday, pitching too carefully and walking Donaldson and Bautista before allowing the go-ahead run to score on a single by Edwin Encarnacion.
But Lovullo gave Ramirez the same opportunity in the eighth yesterday, and this time the rookie came through — striking out Donaldson, retiring Bautista and allowing just a single to Encarnacion before he finished a scoreless inning.
“They’re showing that they have confidence in me, which is something I’ve worked hard for,” Ramirez said. “You know, I’m just glad that they have that kind of trust in me because I know I can handle it.”