Toronto Blue Jays edge Oakland Athletics 6-5 in series finale – MLB Update
Toronto Blue Jays battled past the Oakland Athletics 6-5 at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, California on Sunday, August 5 in the finale of their four match series.
After the A’s took an early 4-1 lead, Edwin Encarnacion produced another wonderful performance to bring the Blue Jays back into the contest. Encarnacion’s home-run to centre in the fourth inning reduced Oakland’s lead to just 4-3.
"We have been struggling the past couple of games," Encarnacion said in a post game interview. "That homer gave everybody a little more emotion and everybody started hitting better."
Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson also displayed some top quality hitting skills to help Toronto come back from behind to snatch a 6-4 lead.
"Something is just a little off in my delivery and the ball is sailing up in the zone," said A’s starter Tommy Milone after losing his third straight start. "I couldn't get that one pitch I needed."
Starting pitcher Aaron Laffey gave up four runs in six effective innings for his third win of the season and relief pitcher Casey Janssen held off the A’s for his 14th
save.
"We put together a good game," Blue Jays’ manager John Farrell said. "We were able to exploit the speed that both guys have at the top.”
Manager John Farrell will be very pleased with the way his team ended the series on Sunday. The A’s had the better of Toronto in first two games and it seemed they will continue their impressive winning streak to hand the Blue Jays another humiliating series
sweep.
Credit should be given to the Blue Jays’ rotation that created all sorts of problems for Oakland’s hitters in last two games. It will be interesting to see if Farrell and company can continue their good work in their upcoming games to have any chance of
reaching the playoffs this year.
Despite losing the last two games of the series, Athletics still remain at second place on the American League West Division standings. Bob Melvin and his men will be hoping to get things back on track as soon as possible to stay in the playoffs race.
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