Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox: Game 3 – MLB Post Game Analysis
The Toronto Blue Jays gained a crucial one-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the four-game series being played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, overcoming the latter 11-10 after an intense encounter on Wednesday, September 7.
Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz continued their hitting form from the previous game, both going 2-for-4 and scoring two runs apiece to keep the visitors in the game before a late assault by Toronto denied the Red Sox a win.
Red Sox started the game with a three-run first inning to impose pressure on the home side but the Blue Jays showed character and made a solid reply to eradicate the lead as early as the second inning and gain a two-run lead by the end of the third.
Jacoby Ellsbury got things going for Boston before Dustin Pedroia and Gonzalez completed their respective runs on Marco Scutaro’s RBI towards centre-field. Scutaro was promoted in the line-up earlier in the series and he has rightly impressed the management
with his new role. The Red Sox shortstop was a regular feature at number nine in Boston’s line-up but given more responsibility, he has proved his mettle as a batter too.
Scutaro scored a run in his four at-bats and drove in another three to improve his batting average to .285 for the season. He is not renowned for his big hitting but has proved himself to be an efficient hitter from the plate. Scutaro is tipped to play a
crucial role for the Red Sox as they prepare for the postseason campaign scheduled for October this year.
The Blue Jays had a lot of positives from this game and although the season is virtually over for them, they can surely benefit from them in the next season. Toronto’s third baseman Brett Lawrie has exhibited high-quality fielding throughout the season and
is now beginning to star with the bat as well. Lawrie went 2-for-2 in this game to boost his batting average to .324 for the season and his slugging percentage at .676 is now the best in the line-up.
Lawrie’s valuable development of expertise has added depth to Blue Jays’ line-up and Jose Bautista will now have someone to share responsibility with. Bautista went 1-for-2 in the game but added two crucial-runs to help his team crush the visitors. Bautista
leads the list for most home-runs this season and is likely to once again get the near the 50 mark, if not surpass it.
Ortiz found his hitting form when the left-handed slugger unleashed his arms for an enormous 443-feet home-run down the right flank in the fifth inning. The Blue Jays became wary of his onslaught and Jesse Litsch then showed maturity in his one-inning spell
to intentionally walk Ortiz. The right-hand relief pitcher gave away just one hit in his spell to keep the Blue Jays alive in the game.
The Red Sox showed trust in Dan Wheeler as a middle inning reliever and he made the most of this opportunity by holding his fourth game of the season. Daniel Bard, however, could not keep things together for the American League stalwarts as the Blue Jays
hammered him for five runs in the eighth inning to turn the game around. The Red Sox, after this performance, should not depend on Bard for relieving duties in the playoffs.
Frank Francisco was lucky to escape a Gonzalez-led fight-back in the last inning and managed to restrict the Red Sox to just two-runs, one shy of his team’s total.
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