Sox Sizzle Against Jays
Posted August 10, 2010 11:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Blue Jays were back at it Tuesday night after enjoying one of those rare weekends that can make even the most hardened of skeptics dream just a little bit.
There was a palpable buzz about the city following the memorable sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays and the arrival of another AL East foe, the Boston Red Sox, offered more opportunity to extend a lifeline to the improbable hope of a run at the post-season.
But no one has been tougher on the Blue Jays this year than the Red Sox, and that trend continued in a 7-5 loss. Ricky Romero was roughed up again by the Beantowners, this time for five runs in six unsteady innings, before Shawn Camp surrendered the decisive runs in a shaky eighth after the offence twice rallied from early deficits.
“It definitely was a dogfight out there,” said Travis Snider, who hit a three-run homer in the third to tie the game up and was stranded in the ninth after a one-out double. “You know when you go up against these teams in this division that’s what it’s going to be.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a five-run lead or a one-run lead, they’re going to be swinging the bats and that was a classic example tonight.”
The loss dropped the Blue Jays (59-53) to 2-8 this season against the Red Sox (65-49) and halted a run of five wins in six games before a crowd of 27,690.
With eight more games left against Boston over the next month and a half, not to mention nine with the New York Yankees and six with the Rays, Toronto will have an impact on both the AL East and wild card races whether they are legitimate contenders themselves or not.
“This is when it all matters,” said Blue Jays centre-fielder Vernon Wells, who sat out with a dislocated right big toe. “We get a chance to play the teams that are ahead of us and those teams are two of the most storied franchises and three of the best teams in baseball.
“We’ve got a chance to prove ourselves each and every night. It’s fun to see these young guys come up and respond to the challenge, but we’re still a long ways from where we need to be.”
No argument there, as the loss combined with Tampa Bay’s 8-0 win left the Blue Jays 9 1-2 games back of the wild-card leader.
Jose Bautista’s leadoff homer off reliever Felix Doubront (2-2) in the seventh tied things at 5-5, but Camp (3-2) yakked it up in the eighth, allowing a go-ahead solo blast to Mike Lowell and an RBI double to Jed Lowrie.
Manny Delcarmen kept things there in the eighth before Jonathan Papelbon locked it down in the ninth for his 29th save.
“We had our chances,” lamented Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston, “we just didn’t hold them in the end.”
The Red Sox killed off any lingering euphoria from Saturday’s eight home run performance highlighted by J.P. Arencibia’s stunning two-homer debut and Sunday’s one-hit, 17-strikeout masterpiece by Brandon Morrow by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the second.
Romero, up in the zone early, gave up RBI doubles by Adrian Beltre and Jed Lowrie and a run-scoring single by Jacoby Ellsbury. Adam Lind responded with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning, before the Red Sox went up 4-1 on Lowell’s bases loaded sacrifice fly in the third.
Having watched Romero limit the damage, Daisuke Matsuzaka proceeded to walk John McDonald and Fred Lewis to open the bottom of the third and then served up the three-run shot to Snider that tied it.
J.D. Drew then put the Red Sox ahead 5-4 with his solo shot into the second deck in right to open the fifth.
Romero, blasted for five runs in 2 1-3 innings versus Boston on July 9, allowed eight hits and two walks while striking out four. He’s now allowed 29 earned runs in 30 2-3 innings over seven career starts (8.51 ERA) against Boston, going 1-4 in those outings.
“None of that stuff worries me, I don’t care what I’ve done against them in the past, I know I can pitch against them and I’ve shown I can pitch against them,” said Romero. “It’s just when I’m up in the zone, these guys will hit mistakes and make me pay every time.”
Notes: Blue Jays SS Yunel Escobar was a late scratch with soreness in his right knee. John McDonald started in his place. … The Jays are shuffling their rotation to give Brandon Morrow extra rest after his 137-pitch, one-hit gem Sunday, and allow a cut on the right knee of Brett Cecil to heal. Morrow won’t start again until Tuesday at the Angels, while Cecil was pushed back to Saturday once his three stitches will be out. Brad Mills starts Thursday against Boston before going down to triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Marc Rzepczynski, who will start Friday. … Fred Lewis started in CF for Vernon Wells, who expects to play Wednesday after dislocating his right big toe Sunday. … Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia (broken left foot) ran at full speed Tuesday and could return as soon as Aug. 17. … Toronto Argos QB Cleo Lemon and Canadian golfer Adam Hadwin took in the game.
