Brett Cecil shines as Toronto Blue Jays defeat Texas Rangers 3-0 – MLB Update
Brett Cecil kept the entire Rangers Ballpark in awe on Sunday, July 24, pitching a shut-out game to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers 3-0.
Cecil’s magical spell also prevented the Rangers from sweeping the series.
Containing the Texas Rangers’ hitters, who had scored 12 runs in the first game and five in the second, Cecil allowed only three singles to thrash the Rangers.
While Alexi Ogando was fighting with equal force to outpace the Toronto starter, Cecil majestically inched forward towards achieving a rare victory.
“Just an outstanding performance. He did a great job right from the first inning," Blue Jays’ manager John Farrell said. "He was down in the zone and had a great changeup. He did some work between the last two starts, made a little bit of a change in his
delivery, more of over his head with his hands which makes him more compact."
The Rangers which had been leading the series 2-0 and were braced to win another victory against the unpredictable Blue Jays had a relatively cool start on Sunday with Alexi Ogando’s unplayable fastballs.
Ogando threw a scoreless first followed by Brett Cecil who did not remain behind in his pace and variety of the pitches. As he kept coming back with his unhittable pitches that he tossed, the speed saw an upward trend, instead of downward spiral.
Having played only 9 games this season, Cecil has pitched 57.1 innings to win four of the games with 4.71 ERA and .264 BAA and 1.40 WHIP. Considering the effectiveness with which he pitched, he seemed all set to do something magically different for the Blue
Jays on Sunday.
So he did, as he entered into the fifth inning to give a shut-out, Alexi Ogando was taken to task by the Blue Jays’ offence in the sixth. Jose Bautista doubled to deep left-centre to score the first run for the Blue Jays followed by Edwin Encarnacion’s RBI
that doubled the Blue Jays’ lead.
Travis Snider hit another double to triple the lead of Blue Jays in a 4-hit sixth inning. Once the lead was established, Cecil continued his march with more speed in his fastballs.
"It's a great accomplishment, to come back from where I was at the start of the season and floating around the whole season, it's a huge thing for me to get back on the right path," Cecil said. "I just hope it continues."
Tommy Hunter relieved Ogando, but Cecil was asked to keep pitching which he did up until the last inning to complete his brilliant shut-out game, turning it into a 3-0 victory for the Blue Jays in a wonderful tight fought game.
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