Blue Jays keep on winning while Red Sox continue downward spiral
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
The Toronto Blue Jays are rolling right now and the stumbling Boston Red Sox weren`t going to be the ones to stop them.
Toronto smashed Boston 13-5 on Sunday to win their 11th straight game, tying them with the New York Mets for the longest winning streak this season.
Ryan Goins had a home run and drove in five runs and Russell Martin went 3-for-4 with three runs scored to pace the Blue Jays’ offense. Toronto is averaging 8.6 runs per game during the winning streak.
The worst run differential in the American League belongs to … the last-place Boston Red Sox at minus-60. This past week has been especially rough. Boston has lost six straight and there are glaring problems all over the field.
The Blue Jays go for a team record 12th straight win Monday night against the Mets at Citi Field while the Red Sox will try to right themselves with the Braves coming to Fenway for a two-game series.
CUBS’ CASTRO COMES UP WITH WALKOFF HIT AGAIN
This was the weekend for Starlin Castro to come through in the clutch.
One night after hitting an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to lift Chicago to a 4-3 win over the Reds on Saturday, Castro came to the plate in the 11th with one out and a runner on second.
On a 1-1 count Castro delivered again, stroking a single to left field off Burke Badenhop and scoring Chris Coghlan from second to secure a 2-1 win.
Castro’s hits earned the Cubs a couple big wins and also put his name next to a legend in the team’s history book:
Jon Lester went seven innings, allowing one run and striking out four but received a no-decision. The Cubs are now 34-27 and continue to hold the second wild-card spot in the NL.
DODGERS OUTLAST PADRES IN EXTRAS
Joc Pederson’s incredible catch in the bottom of the ninth to rob Justin Upton of a would-be game-winning hit forced this game into extra innings.
Upton was up with two outs and runners on first and second and two outs in a 2-2 game. He crushed a 3-0 fastball deep to center only to have Pederson reel it in and crash into the wall in center.
The game went to the 12th when Adrian Gonzalez gave Los Angeles the lead with a bases loaded single that scored two. Kenley Jansen came in to close it out for the Dodgers and his job, striking out two and keeping the Padres off the board.
It was a grind, but L.A. won two of three in San Diego and have now won six of their last eight.
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SALE K’s 12 BUT WHITE SOX LOSE TO RAYS
Chris Sale pitched another great game. However this time it wasn’t enough to get the White Sox a win.
For the fourth straight start Sale had 12 strikeouts, which puts him in elite company:
Unfortunately, despite racking up the strikeouts, Sale gave up a two-run homer to Asdrubal Cabrera in the seventh and Chicago could only muster one run with their ace on the mound.
With the win the Rays remained in a tie with the Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Yankees beat the Orioles 5-3 on Sunday.
Want to see more from Sunday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
