The Awesome Red Sox played the role of spoiler

strike zone | October 19, 2015 | Baseball | No Comments

Video: Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays. Watch the video below.

Jose Bautista made a game of it with a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one-run deficit before Matt Hague doubled off the center-field wall to put the potential tying run in scoring position, but Justin Smoak grounded out to end it. Edwin Encarnacion also homered and drove in three runs for the Blue Jays, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

Jose Bautista belts a two-run homer to center field to pull the Blue Jays to within one run in the 9th inning. The game remained scoreless until the sixth, when Xander Bogaerts put the Red Sox ahead with a solo shot. That lead was short-lived, however, as Encarnacion went yard in the home half with a runner on to give the Blue Jays a one-run advantage. The see-saw continued as Boston knotted the game in the seventh thanks to a leadoff ground-rule double from Brock Holt, who then came around to score on Bradley’s double to tie the game at 2. The Blue Jays looked poised to take the game after a two-run eighth broke the tie, but the Red Sox piled on against the Toronto bullpen in the ninth.

Jackie Bradley Jr. hits a ball off the glove of Cliff Pennington to drive in Brock Holt and hustles into second for a double. “It’s rare, what happened,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “It does happen in baseball, but it’s a tough one. No doubt about.”

Bradley busts out: Bradley was in a 1-for-32 drought and was hitless in 21 at-bats before coming up with two big hits in the late innings. In the seventh, Bradley tied the game with a hustle double off the glove of Jays second baseman Cliff Pennington. And in the ninth, with the Red Sox two outs from defeat, Bradley hit a towering, game-tying, two-run shot to right against Osuna. According to Statcast™, Bradley’s homer was projected to land 425 feet away, with an exit velocity of 106 mph.

Jackie Bradley Jr. launches a two-run home run to right field to tie the game at 4 in the 9th inning. “To come up and do what he did in the ninth inning with our backs against the wall, obviously we know what he’s been going through for the past several games,” said Lovullo. “To put that behind him and to come up big was pretty good.”

The Edwing flies: Encarnacion ripped an offering from Wade Miley off the facing of the second deck to put the Blue Jays up a run in the sixth. The ball got out in a hurry, leaving Encarnacion’s bat at a projected 111 mph, according to Statcast™. It was his 34th of the season.

Edwin Encarnacion crushes a two-run home run to left field to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead in the 6th inning. Bogaerts puts Red Sox in front: Bogaerts perfectly timed a 72-mph knuckleball from R.A. Dickey to open the top of the sixth and belted it over the wall in left to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. The homer was a reminder that Bogaerts has raw power, despite the fact it was just the sixth time he’s gone deep this season. The homer was the first for Bogaerts since Sept. 2. Bogaerts struck out in his first two at-bats against Dickey.

Dickey 200: When he got Holt to fly out to left field in the fourth, Dickey reached 200 innings pitched for the fifth straight season and his third with the Blue Jays. The 40-year-old knuckleballer has pitched at least 208 2/3 innings over that span, and as many as 233 2/3. Dickey tossed six innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits before turning the game over to the bullpen.

R.A. Dickey throws six innings of two-run ball against the Red Sox, surrendering six hits and striking out three with just one walk. “It was somewhat of a grind to get through that lineup multiple times,” Dickey said. “I’ve said it all along, that’s one of the better teams in the American League, in my opinion, offensively.”