MLB: Toronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox

Recap: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 4; ACEstrada Hurls Another Gem

Well this was a fun one.

The Blue Jays and Red Sox met up for their rubber match under cloudy skies today after splitting the first two games of the series. The Jays got out of the gate early when Jose Bautista led off the game with a solo home run off the Green Monster. Marco Estrada struggled to find the strike zone at the outset, surrendering walks to the first two batters he faced. but managed to get himself out of the jam (with a little – ok, a lot of – help from Xander Bogaerts and his insane bunt). The Jays would score three more runs in the third with home runs by both Darwin Barney and Edwin Encarnacion, and would tack on another in the sixth off a laser shot by Russell Martin over the Green Monster to make it 5-0 Jays.

Estrada cruised through seven innings, giving up just three walks in the first two innings before retiring each batter he faced until Chris Young homered in the eighth to break up the no-hit bid. After giving up a lead-off double to Dustin Pedroia to start the ninth inning, Roberto Osuna took over and made things interesting. After an out from Xander Bogaerts, Osuna gave up a double to David Ortiz to score Pedroia, followed by a strike out and then a double to Hanley Ramirez to score Rusney Castillo (pinch-running for Ortiz) and a single to Jackie Bradley Jr. to score Ramirez. That made it a 5-4 nail-biter, but Osuna would finally strike out Marco Hernandez after falling behind three balls and no strikes to preserve the game and give the Jays their fifth straight series win.

Top Play of the Game by WPA

With two on a and two out in the top of the third inning, Josh Donaldson was walked to bring Edwin Encarnacion to the plate, who promptly walked the parrot with a fliner over the Monster to give the Jays a 4-0 lead and the top play of the game by WPA (.150).

Bottom Play of the Game by WPA

With two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Marco Hernandez struck out swinging to end not only the late rally but the game as well, providing the bottom play of the game by WPA(-.176).

Marco Estrada

Marco Estrada was absolutely dominant in his start today, taking a three-walk no-hitter into the eighth inning. In fact, Estrada held the Red Sox to just three early base runners until giving up a solo home run to Chris Young in the bottom of the eighth inning. Estrada has now allowed just 44 hits in 74.2 innings pitched this season and has been nothing short of stellar this season. He is striking out more batters, but still getting his usual array of weak popups for easy outs. He has also gone eight straight games allowing five hits of fewer, which is a Blue Jays franchise record.

The Power

Interestingly, the Blue Jays hit four home runs in this game, but those were the only hits they would get all day. In fact, for the first eight and a half innings, the teams combined for a .000 BABIP. The power for the Jays has really been coming around lately, which is a nice sight for Toronto fans.

Trend to Watch

The red-hot Blue Jays have now won eight of their last ten games and, more importantly, were victorious in nine of twelve games against their division rivals to climb to third overall in the AL East and now sit just 2.5 games out of first.

Up Next

The Jays continue their road trip with a three-game stop in Detroit, with J.A. Happ taking the mound against rookie Mike Fulmer in the series opener.

Lead Photo: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

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