(Toronto) Whit Merrifield hit the ball weakly but in the right place and Vladimir Guerrero was able to cross the plate with the winning run in the 13th on Saturday, as the Toronto Blue Jays snatched a 4-3 victory at the expense of the Reds Boston Sox.
His shot was weak towards Rafael Devers, the third baseman. Enough so that in the end, the latter did not even have time to try to relay to first base in time.
“At this point in the season, any win gives you a lot of confidence,” Merrifield said. Hopefully this will give us some momentum. »
The Jays won their second straight game, after a four-game losing streak.
They are at the height of the race to carve out a place among the three clubs reaching the series by not being section champions, in the American.
The portrait of this top 3: the Rays well at the top, followed by the Rangers (.554) and the Mariners (.551). The Jays have a winning percentage of .550, going 82-67.
Seattle will host the Los Angeles Dodgers starting at 9:40 p.m.
Rafael Devers hit a two-run homer in the sixth for Boston.
In the next inning, Guerrero responded with his third home run in three days.
“The way Vladdy has been hitting lately, it gives us a big boost,” Merrifield said.
Dalton Varsho evened the score with a one-run triple in the ninth, a hit where center fielder Ceddane Rafaela misjudged the ball.
“He made a mistake,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora admitted of the 22-year-old outfielder. He will learn something from it and he will do better next time. »
Pablo Reyes broke the deadlock with a run-scoring single in the 12th. During the Jays’ turn at bat, Bo Bichette’s sacrifice fly brought the clubs back to square one.
Chris Sale gave up a first hit in the fifth, with two outs.
Alejandro Kirk wanted to go to the second cushion, on his slap at the foot of the right field fence, but he was removed by the relay from Alex Verdugo.
Sale struck out 10 batters in six innings. He limited the opponent to one run, two hits and two walks.
Mauricio Llovera (1-3) was on the mound in the bottom of the 13th inning.
The four-hour, one-minute match was played in front of 42,276 people at the Rogers Centre.
Chris Bassitt allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings, striking out five batters.
The win went to Chad Green (3-0), last of the six pitchers used by the Blue Jays.
In the ninth, Cavan Biggio singled as a backup hitter, then advanced on a cushion thanks to a bad pitch from John Schreiber. Varsho drove him to the plate with his second triple of the season.
Starting pitchers on Sunday will be Nick Pivetta and Hyun Jin Ryu.
Pivetta is originally from Victoria, British Columbia.
