Toronto – Josh Donaldson’s mad dash moved the Blue Jays into the next round of the playoffs.
Donaldson raced home from second base after Rougned Odor bounced a double-play relay in the 10th inning and Toronto beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 on Sunday night to sweep their AL Division Series.
Donaldson, the reigning AL MVP, led off the 10th with a double into the right-center field gap and Matt Bush intentionally walked Edwin Encarnacion.
After Jose Bautista struck out, Russell Martin hit a grounder to shortstop Elvis Andrus, who tried to start a double __play with a feed to second base. After making the turn, second baseman Odor short-hopped his throw to first baseman Mitch Moreland and the ball skipped away, allowing Donaldson to sprint home and beat Moreland’s throw with a dive across the plate.
“I was at third base when the throw was being made,” Donaldson said. “Once I saw (Moreland) miss the pick, I felt like I had to take a chance right there.”
The wild-card Blue Jays are headed back to the AL Championship Series after beating Texas in an ALDS for a second straight year and will face the winner of the Cleveland-Boston series. The Indians lead 2-0, with Game 3 scheduled for Monday following a postponement Sunday.
Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro, who spent 24 years with Cleveland before joining Toronto last fall, said he’d already reached out to one former Indians colleague about a potential ALCS meeting.
“It’s something I’ve tried not to think about,” Shapiro said, “but I texted (Indians GM) Chris Antonetti a two-word text about 10 minutes ago: Your turn.”
Toronto’s bench emptied and swarmed around Donaldson near home plate after his dramatic dash, while Bush kneeled in the infield and watched the celebration. The umpires huddled to review the __play at second base, but after a brief delay, the crowd of 49,555 went wild as crew chief Joe West signaled the run counted.
“You’re like ‘Oh gosh, let’s not have a technicality ruin this moment for us right here,’ ” Martin said. “It was a little bit of a buzzkill at the time.”
Donaldson had two doubles among his three hits and is batting .538 through four postseason games, all wins for the Blue Jays, who had to beat Baltimore in a wild-card game to get to the ALDS.
“We definitely feel good about where we’re at,” Donaldson said. “We’re pitching well, we’re playing good defense and right now we’ve been able to hit the homer. That’s a big positive for our offense.”
The Blue Jays now get four days off before the ALCS begins Friday, and they’re happy to get it.
“Some people like to say a couple of days off might throw our timing off,” Martin said. “I really don’t believe in that. At this point in the year, a couple of days off can do wonders.”
Bautista’s homer and emphatic bat flip in Game 5 was the lasting image from Toronto’s ALDS win over the Rangers last season. On May 15, Odor famously punched Bautista to spark a brawl in Texas, and the broadcast of Sunday’s game showed a fan-made sign declaring “I would rather get punched in May than get knocked out in October.”
Indians at Red Sox — ppd.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Nationals 5, Dodgers 2
In Washington, leave it to little-used, light-hitting Jose Lobaton to change the complexion of the Nationals’ NL Division Series with one big swing.
Getting a rare chance to play because of starting catcher Wilson Ramos’ late-September injury, backup Lobaton hit a three-run homer through a strong wind to erase an early deficit. Daniel Murphy provided more-expected production with two RBIs, and Washington’s bullpen threw 4⅔ scoreless innings, leading the Nationals past the Dodgers in a rain-postponed Game 2 to even the series at 1-all.
“I’ve got to try to do something for the team,” said Lobaton, who had one hit off a left-handed pitcher all season before connecting with a curveball that stayed up from L.A. lefty Rich Hill with two outs in the fourth inning.
“And I’m not saying that I’m going to be like Willy and hit a homer and hit .300. play hard every day, no matter who is in and who is not,” he said.
After dropping Game 1, the Nationals trailed 2-0 when Hill allowed No. 8 hitter Lobaton to put the hosts ahead for good.
“One bad pitch to a guy that I don’t think anybody really thought was going to be that guy to hurt us,” said Josh Reddick, who drove in a run for L.A. in the third off Tanner Roark after Corey Seager hit his second first-inning homer of the NLDS. “But that’s what happens, and anybody can be the guy in the postseason.”
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