Whit Merrifield hit the ball weakly but in the right place and Vladimir Guerrero was able to cross the plate with the winning run in 13eSaturday, as the Toronto Blue Jays snatched a 4-3 victory at the expense of the Boston Red Sox.
His shot was weak towards Rafael Devers, the third baseman. Enough so that ultimately, the latter does not even have the chance to try to relay in time to first base.
“At this point in the season, any win gives you a lot of confidence,” Merrifield said. Hopefully this will give us some momentum. »
Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer in the sixth for Boston.
In the next inning, Guerrero responded with his third homer in three days.
“The way Vladdy has been hitting lately, it gives us a big boost,” Merrifield said.
Dalton Varsho evened the score with a one-run triple in the ninth, a hit where center fielder Ceddane Rafaela misjudged the ball.
“He made a mistake,” admitted Red Sox manager Alex Cora about the 22-year-old outfielder. He will learn something from it and he will do better next time. »
Pablo Reyes broke the deadlock with a run-scoring single in 12e. During the Jays’ turn at bat, Bo Bichette’s sacrifice fly brought the clubs back to square one.
Chris Sale gave up a first hit in the fifth, with two outs.
Alejandro Kirk wanted to go to the second cushion, on his slap at the foot of the right field fence, but he was removed by Alex Verdugo’s relay.
Sale struck out 10 batters in six innings. He limited the opponent to one run, two hits and two walks.
Mauricio Llovera (1-3) was on the mound in the bottom of the 13e sleeve.
The four hour and one minute match was presented in front of 42,276 people at the Rogers Centre.
Chris Bassitt allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings, striking out five batters.
The win went to Chad Green (3-0), last of the six pitchers used by the Blue Jays.
In the ninth, Cavan Biggio singled as a backup hitter, then advanced on a cushion thanks to a bad pitch from John Schreiber. Varsho drove him to the plate with his second triple of the season.
The Jays won their second straight game, after a four-game losing streak.
They are at the height of the race to carve out a place among the three clubs reaching the series by not being section champions, in the American.
Well at the top of this top 3, we find the Rays, followed by the Rangers (.558) and the Mariners (.551). The Jays have a winning percentage of .550, with their record of 82-67. On Saturday, Texas plays at Cleveland and Seattle hosts the Dodgers.
The Toronto team will have to once again resist the Boston troops on Sunday. The starting pitchers will be Nick Pivetta, originally from Victoria, British Columbia, for the Red Sox and Hyun Jin Ryu for the Jays.