Series 22: Rays @ Blue Jays (Tues. Wed. June 13 & 14, 2017)

[hockeyfan1]

                                                     @




Place:            Rogers Centre   Toronto, ON


Tues. June 13
Starting Pitchers:             Marco Estrada   RH (Jays) 4-4 4.04 ERA
                                      Jacob Faria       RH (Rays) 1-0 1.42 ERA
Time:                              7PM
TV/Radio:                        Sportsnet,  The FAN 590



Wed. June 14
Starting Pitchers:           Francisco Liriano LH (Jays)  3-2 5.87 ERA
                                    Jake Odorizzi      RH (Rays) 4-3 4.59 ERA
Time:                            7PM
TV/Radio:                      Sportsnet One,  The FAN 590



Source:      MLB.com,  theStar.com

[hockeyfan1]

The Blue Jays come home after a six game road trip out West.  After having lost two out of three to the Oakland A's, the Jays then embarked to Seattle to face the streaking Mariners and took two out of three from them. 


The Blue Jays (31-32) hope to reach .500 against another of their A.L. rivals the Tampa Bay Rays (34-31).  The last time these two teams met was in May here in Toronto, with the Jays taking that series two out of three.  In fact, prior to this one, the Jays also took two out of three in Tampa Bay earlier in that month.


With all hands on deck, except of course Aaron Sanchez and Devon Travis out of commission, the Jays have been hitting plenty of monster homers, especially considering that the majority of their runs against the Mariners were the result of homers (15 out of the 21 runs, that is).


C'mon Blue Jays, keep at it.  Opportunity calls to sweep the Rays and jump one game over .500.  How about that, huh?  Will they do it?  Hope so.


GO JAYS GO!

[Captain Canuck]

Getting to the .500 mark seems to be quite the psychological barrier, 6 attempts and 6 failures so far this season.

[hockeyfan1]

Bah!  Tuesday's  game was a dud!  Estrada sure had his work cut out for him (six earned runs).  Ugh. "Pummel" is sure the word.

Recap:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/rays-pummel-blue-jays-deny-climb-back-500/

Hope we see some better results tonight.

[hockeyfan1]

Rays 6   Blue Jays 7

Thank you Russell Martin!  The Jays' catcher's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning was the game winner, as Toronto broke a 6-6 tie and go one up. 

Not before Kendrys Morales' three-run homer in the fifth inning that gave the Jays the lead after having fallen behind a 3-1 deficit. 
Jays' starting pitcher Francisco Liriano pitched solidly in only allowing two runs well into the seventh inning, before giving way to reliever Joe Smith.

With Smith pitching, the  Rays scored three runs to tie the game up in the top of the eighth inning.  Enter Martin's heroics.

Smith gets the win and Osuna save #17, with the Jays splitting the series with Tampa Bay.

Game recap:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/martins-eighth-inning-solo-shot-difference-blue-jays-edge-rays-7-6/