“I think I’ve gone three, four days in a row the past couple years multiple times, so it’s not a big deal”, Shaw said. It was the third time this season Kluber issued consecutive walks, and the first time he’d done so against the first two batters in an inning. He struck out five and walked two.
Kluber hadn’t allowed a run in either of his first two starts this postseason.
Donaldson spoke to his teammates during a team meeting before the game.
“Everybody knew coming into today how important today was”, Donaldson said.
“They’ve been making some big pitches”, said Gibbons, speaking prior to the game, said of the Indians. Josh Donaldson homered and Edwin Encarnacion delivered a two-run single as the Blue Jays became the first team to fare well against Corey Kluber this postseason, reaching Cleveland’s ace for two runs in five innings after the former Cy Young Award victor worked 13 1/3 scoreless frames over his first two starts. Doctors told him nothing was wrong and he has been strong since, tossing eight innings of relief without allowing an earned run. We’ve got to win one.
The Jays need three more wins if they want to join the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only major-league teams ever to rally from down 0-3 to win an ALCS. Carrera had singled in the fourth inning to account for Toronto’s second run. Up stepped Ezequiel Carrera, who got a hold of a 91 miles per hour sinker, but a terrific route from right-fielder Lonnie Chisenhall allowed him to run the ball down at the warning track. “You’ve got to get some breaks, too”. “But that’s one game”. The most animated he got was when he was asked if he had anyone special coming to the game and said, yes, his fiancee, Sarah, was in town. “So see what the heck happens”. “It’s my first year in the major leagues and it’s a great feeling that Terry Francona trusts me to go out and try to win a baseball game for them in the playoffs”. This time Toronto outpitched Cleveland and got the timely hits.
The shutdown effort out the bullpen allowed the the Jays to turn what was a 2-1 lead through six-and-a-half innings into a four-run cushion. And Carrera dunked in a little bleeder. “So I like where we’re at”. But, with a 3-to-zero lead in the series, fans at BW3’s weren’t the least bit anxious. He surrendered a one out walk to Coco Crisp, who soon advanced to second on a ball in the dirt. Donaldson, the third baseman, kept the lead intact when he made a diving stop on Carlos Santana and threw the designated hitter out at first. It was all up to Jason Kipnis to take advantage of the scoring chance, but Sanchez induced yet another groundout to keep the game scoreless. When the teams say every run matters, it’s more than cliché.
He went to the bullpen after getting five innings and 89 pitches from his ace, calling on Dan Otero to start the sixth inning. The Tribe’s pitching staff is so banged up they are going to start Ryan Merritt.
Toronto loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on a Ryan Goins single, a Bryan Shaw throwing error that put Jose Bautista on and intentional walk to Donaldson.
“They showed up today, like they always do”, said Toronto manager John Gibbons, neatly avoiding that, for the past week, they often did not. “But to say the least, I was a little surprised”.
“I’ve had a little time to just reflect on it, see how the atmosphere is at this ballpark”, Merritt said, again no more animated about his preparation for the biggest day of his professional life than he would be if he was telling you that, yes, his neighbor back home also has some tropical fish in a nice aquarium. So it’s a hard situation all the way around.
“(I) chose to try to go a different route.
On a 1-1 count, Encarnacion smoked an outer-half fastball clocked at 96 miles per hour from Bryan Shaw up the middle, skipping it off the mound for a two-run single and a 4-1 advantage.