TORONTO – One of the main reasons the Toronto Blue Jays remain afloat right now amid their ongoing August collapse is the way they’ve beaten up on the Boston Red Sox this season, and if that well of wins suddenly dries up things may really get dire.
A 4-3, 10-inning setback to the defending World Series champions – coming after an unexpected and stirring ninth-inning rally capped by an Edwin Encarnacion two-run double that missed clearing the wall and winning the game by a foot or two – only deepened the misery of what’s now a 6-15 month.
Managing just two hits and a walk in the first 8.1 innings against Clay Buchholz, whom they largely slapped around in four previous outings, the Blue Jays rallied for three in the ninth before Yoenis Cespedes lined a go-ahead single in the 10th on a hanging Aaron Sanchez curveball to seal the deal.
Craig Breslow closed things out in the bottom of the frame as the Blue Jays fell to 66-65 overall, and 10-4 this year against the Red Sox (57-74), who had lost eight straight. Minus the windfall against John Farrell’s club, the Blue Jays are 56-61, which is what makes the current series so critical.
"We needed another foot or two on Eddie’s ball," lamented manager John Gibbons. "Disappointing, definitely disappointing."
Two games remain with the Red Sox before the New York Yankees, 7-5 against Toronto this year, check in for a three-game series to wrap up a nine-game homestand, with a visit to Tampa Bay and Boston for six games afterwards.
This is the time to strike, yet their offence remains largely non-existent just as the season’s tipping point comes closer and closer.
"We have run into some good pitching but we’re a team that should score runs and we haven’t been doing that," said Gibbons. "We’re missing some pitches that we normally might hit, and sure, the mindset is a powerful thing, especially in hitting, you can get a little distracted or you get a little anxious, whatever it is, you start pressing if you’re struggling or the team’s struggling, it definitely affects you.
"You’ve got to be loose and relaxed up there, that’s easier said than done sometimes. We just want to keep battling, that’s all you can do."
Yet it was the Red Sox who did the striking early, as J.A. Happ surrendered a solo shot to Mookie Betts and a two-run homer to Dustin Pedroia in the fifth – the only blemishes on an otherwise fine outing – and it looked like lights out from there.
"I didn’t think the at-bat to Betts was going to get that far, but it did, I threw to the glove and he put a good swing on it," said Happ, who allowed five hits and two walks in six innings while striking out eight. "The ball to Pedroia, kind of ambushed, it was a breaking ball in a bad spot to him and he was able to do some damage."
But with one out in the ninth, Jose Reyes singled on a chopper up the middle that led Pedroia and Brock Holt to collide. Melky Cabrera followed with another base hit and Jose Bautista walked on four pitches to load the bases.
Closer Koji Uehara came in, and Adam Lind followed with a fielder’s choice to second that scored one run as Bautista prevented the double play with an aggressive takeout slide on Holt. Edwin Encarnacion then clubbed a game-tying double off the wall in left field to force extra innings.
That was the first Blue Jays threat since the third, when Danny Valencia hit a one-out single, took second on Munenori Kawasaki’s groundout and would have scored on Reyes’ chopper had Pedroia not made a diving grab of his chopper and thrown him out at first to end the inning.
Encarnacion walked in the fifth and Lind singled in the seventh to account for the Blue Jays offence until the ninth.
In the 10th, Holt beat out an infield hit, stole second on Pedroia’s strikeout, later took third and scored when Cespedes sent a 1-2 curveball in the heart of the plate up the middle, handing Sanchez his first big-league loss.
"In that count, in that situation, that ball needs to be in the dirt," said Sanchez.
The Blue Jays will try to regroup Tuesday when R.A. Dickey starts against Rubby De La Rosa, with the opportunities shrinking and desolation growing.