Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox: Game 4 – MLB Post Game Analysis
The Toronto Blue Jays powered their way to a convincing 7-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday, September 8, to win the four-game series 3-1 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario.
The Red Sox are certain to go through to the postseason this year but a series loss to the Blue Jays this late in the season would have surely dented their confidence.
Boston rested Adrian Gonzalez for the crunch encounter and played with Kevin Youkilis at first base instead. Gonzalez has been sensational right through this season and the management felt that they should not risk him in a game which, in reality, did not
matter for the Red Sox. However, the Blue Jays had personal glory to play for and they rightly showed their desperation for a win through some commendable team-work.
Brett Lawrie impressed throughout the series, showing that he has the ingredients to silence even the strongest of oppositions in the Majors. He was athletic at third base and magnificent on the plate. Lawrie went 2-for-4 in this game to improve his batting
average to .330 for the season and boost his slugging percentage to a team-best of .678. The Blue Jays will now want to consider promoting him in the line-up to add depth to their batting which, barring Jose Bautista has not fired this season.
Bautista might be leading the list of most home-runs this season as well, but he has been inconsistent and that is what has harmed Toronto the most. Bautista showed his class in the previous game when he played as designated hitter but went 0-for-3 in this
game playing as right outfielder. The Blue Jays might not be a contender for the playoffs this season, but they now have ample time to refurbish their roster for an improved performance next year.
J.P. Arencibia was Toronto’s hero in this game as he hammered a three-run homer in the second inning to give the home side a four-run lead early in the game. Andrew Miller was scrutinized by the Blue Jays’ batters as the Red Sox starter was charged for eight
hits and five earned-runs in five ordinary-innings to see his ERA surge to 5.58 for the season. Miller lost his third start of the season but has six wins against his name thus far in the season to make a strong case for a permanent place in the rotation.
The Red Sox have a seasoned pitching rotation and might not want to risk Miller for the postseason but he might be an option for the next season.
David Ortiz failed yet again to produce a single hit in his four at-bats to bring his batting average down to .317 for the season. The AL home-run derby captain has bagged 29 home-runs this season but his consistency has been a question mark this season.
However, his failure in this game can be attributed to Ricky Romero, who produced an excellent spell to silence the big-hitting machine.
Romero pitched 6.2 innings and gave away just three runs to improve his win-loss record to 14-10 for the season. The Blue Jays are now coming along well as a unit and will want to continue with this form in the next season as well.
Marco Scutaro impressed with the bat for the Red Sox in this series and 3-for-4 effort in this game was sufficient enough to prove his ability at the top of the order. Boston will now heavily bank on him for their postseason campaign as they look for a more
consistent batter apart from Gonzalez.
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