Ten years ago today:
The Blue Jays made a fantastic comeback to beat the Red Sox in Boston. It was our ninth win in a row. We would sweep the Red Sox, running our winning streak to 11.
At the end of 3 innings, the Jays were down 8-1. Drew Hutchison had a terrible start, giving up eight runs in just 2.1 innings. He gave up three home runs (Pablo Sandoval, Mookie Betts, and Dustin Pedroia took him deep.
The Jays would get three runs in the 5th to make it 8-4.
Then came the 7th inning. We scored nine runs.
Then came the 9-run 7th. Let’s go through it. Our friend, Mr. Farrell, brought Matt Barnes into pitch:
Kevin Pillar led off with a hard-hit single.
Ryan Goins hit his second double off the ‘Green Monster’. 8-5.
Jose Reyes singles. 8-6.
Mr. Farrell brings in Junichi Tazawa. Thank you again, Farrell.
Donaldson singles. I thought it should have been an error on Pablo Sandoval, but I won’t complain.
Jose Bautista singles. 8-7.
With Bautista on first, the Red Sox tried to pick him off. Jose had a large lead, and Sox catcher Blake Swihart threw to first. The ball beat Bautista back, but he managed to avoid the tag. There was a review, but he was safe.
Edwin Encarnacion singled.
Chris Colabello hit a ground ball to my new favourite third baseman, and Sandoval booted it. This time, they called it an error (it was). 8-8.
Russell Martin clears the bases with a triple to center. 8-11.
Smoak homers. 8-13.
After that, we made three quick outs, but our first nine up in the inning got on base and scored. That’s pretty incredible.
I wasn’t John Farrell’s biggest fan, but for this game, he was perfect.
We tried to let the Sox back into the game. Roberto Osuna gave up a hit and two walks while getting just two outs in the eighth. Brett Cecil came in to get the last out of the 8th and then gave up a run of his own in the 9th, but that was it, and we won 13-10.
Before Osuna came into the game, our bullpen pitched 4.2 scoreless innings. Bo Schultz (remember him?) pitched 2.2, and Steve Delabar and Aaron Loup each pitched 1 inning.
More from the recap:
Jays of the Day: Colabello (.146 WPA, with his dad in the stands), Encarnacion (.139), Martin (.112), Donaldson (.107, and he made a couple of great plays on defense), Bautista (.101), and Goins (.100). I’m giving Smoak (.081) too. I figure 8 total bases and three RBI get you a JoD. And I’m giving one to Bo Schultz because we needed those scoreless innings. And all of us who continued watching and didn’t turn off the game when we were down by 7, well, we all get an honourable mention.
Suckage: Hutchison (-.410).
This is a thing of beauty:
We finished the season 93-69, first in the AL East, and beat the Rangers in the ALDS. I don’t remember what happened after that.