Adam Lind’s homer helps Toronto Blue Jays defeat Cincinnati Reds 3-2 – MLB Update
Adam Lind’s homer on Friday, June17 guided the Toronto Blue Jays to a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in a sensational encounter at Great American Ball Park.
Lind, having an average of .413 with eight homers and 17 RBIs managed to hit his fourth consecutive home-run.
Marking the 11th time in Lind’s team history, his homer did not seem to have brought much pleasure to him. "I quit trying to feel my way out there," he said. "I wasn't swinging with a lot of authority out there."
Mike Leake and Jo-Jo Reyes commenced the game with the strong innings that they pitched. Since the start, the respective teams’ hitters found themselves unable to open up their bats for hits that the fans awaited eagerly.
After five scoreless innings, Drew Stubbs took on Jo-Jo Reyes in the sixth inning with his inside-park home-run to deep-centre. Reyes gave up a hit and allowed a run that led to the Reds’ 1-0 lead at their home ground.
However, Mike Leake could no longer utilise the magical spells that he had pitched earlier when he came out to pitch in the seventh inning. Jose Bautista doubled to deep centre to level the score in a game which was by now going to the pitchers’ favour.
Lind then opened up his bat which has barely been merciful towards the rivals. He hit the fourth straight homer to lift the team and give a precious 3-1 lead to the Blue Jays.
"When you have that kind of a swing and you're swinging at strikes, as he's doing, that pure of a swing and that kind of power can produce what you're seeing," manager John Farrell said. "What Adam's doing is tremendous."
However, Reyes seemed to falter in the bottom of the seventh inning when he came for pitching. He gave up three hits which resulted in a single of Scott Rolen who homered to left to reduce the Blue Jays’ lead to 3-2.
Octavio Dotel came as a relief pitcher in the eighth inning. Like his predecessor, who remained strong throughout the game apart from the previous two innings, Dotel remained unhittable and restricted the Reds’ hitters.
When Frank Francisco was tasked with preserving the lead and turning it into victory in the ninth inning, he prevailed. The reliever pitched a shut-out ninth inning to give a 3-2 win to the Blue Jays in the first encounter of three-game series. The second
game will be played on Saturday.
It will be interesting to see how Blue Jays carry their winning momentum into their next game of the series. The Reds fought hard, but it was not enough to restrict the Blue Jays’ offence.
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