Toronto Blue Jays outclassed by Chicago White Sox 2-4 in series opener – MLB Update
Toronto Blue Jays were outclassed by the Chicago White Sox 2-4 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Illinois on Friday, July 6 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
First baseman Adam Lind homered to left-centre in the second inning to put his side 1-0 ahead but the Blue Jays were unable to capitalise on their strong start to the contest. Alex Ramirez brought the White Sox back into the game as he singled to left in
the fifth inning and Dayan Viciedo scored to make the total to 1-1.
Gordon Beckham had an RBI single to left and Kevin Youkilis singled to left in the fifth to help Chicago claim a two run lead. A.J. Pierzynski hit his 16th home-run of the season, taking complete advantage of Blue Jays’ errors in the sixth.
Yunel Escobar hit a sacrifice fly to centre in the bottom of the ninth but it proved to be a fruitless effort as the White Sox held on to their slim lead to complete a deserving victory. Blue Jays’ starting pitcher Aaron Laffey gave up four runs and eight
hits in six innings and Chicago’ starter Jake Peavy allowed just one run in seven plus innings to grab his seventh win of the season.
"He keeps the game under control, throws a lot of strikes, doesn't get rattled in certain situations and is not going to pitch away from contact," Toronto manager John Farrell said of Laffey. "They were able to bunch some hits together in that fifth inning,
and we contributed with some of the defense, but overall he's done a good job for us."
Blue Jays’ loss to the White Sox on Friday evening damaged their record to 42-42 and they have now moved to the last place on the American League East Division standings table. With All Star Game coming up, Manager John Farrell has very little time to look
into his game plan. It will be interesting to see if the Blue Jays can give consistent results in second half of the season to make it to the post season.
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