{"id":3671,"date":"2024-09-24T07:06:46","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T07:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=3671"},"modified":"2024-09-24T07:06:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T07:06:46","slug":"red-sox-keep-playoff-hopes-alive-beat-blue-jays-4-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=3671","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox keep playoff hopes alive, beat Blue Jays 4-1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Boston Red Sox kept their slim playoff hopes alive on Monday by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 in the opener of a three-game road series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Toronto Blue Jays short stop Ernie Clement tumbles as Boston Red Sox Jarren Duran steals second base during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chris Young<\/p>\n

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The Boston Red Sox kept their slim playoff hopes alive on Monday by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 in the opener of a three-game road series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Red Sox starter Tanner Houck pitched five shutout innings and allowed just one hit to improve to 9-10 on the season. The Red Sox improved to 79-78.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt struggled by allowing three runs, two of which were earned, along with a season-high seven walks to drop to 11-14 on the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt was a weird night for him,\u201d said Blue Jays manager John Schneider of his starter\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHe couldn\u2019t really find the zone with anything, especially off-speed stuff \u2014 cutter, sweeper, curveball. So, weird night. You look up, and that game could have easily been a different outcome than 4-1.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After striking out Jarren Duran to start the game, Bassitt walked three of the next five batters over the first two innings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Red Sox opened the scoring in the second inning, as second baseman Vaughn Grissom scored catcher Connor Wong from third on a sacrifice fly. It was Grissom\u2019s fourth RBI of the season and his first since being called back up to the Red Sox from triple-A Worcester on Sept. 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Red Sox doubled their lead in the third inning courtesy of an RBI single by outfielder Wilyer Abreu. The run gave Abreu 58 RBIs on the season and continued a strong campaign for the 25-year-old, who entered the game leading all American League rookies in slugging percentage, doubles and extra-base hits.<\/p>\n

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Third baseman Nick Sogard led off the fourth inning with a hard-hit double and then advanced to third after Bassitt was charged with a balk. Centre-fielder Ceddanne Rafaela would then give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead on a swinging bunt to bring Sogard home, giving the 24-year-old utility-man his 71st RBI of the season and a league-leading 57 as the ninth hitter in a team\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bassitt was replaced by right-hander Zach Pop after an Abreu single in the top of the fifth inning pushed runners to first and third with only one out. It marked the second consecutive game in which Bassitt finished with under five innings pitched and allowed three or more walks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Bassitt chalked up his poor showing to mechanical issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re not throwing bullpens. So, just go out there and be better,\u201d offered the 35-year-old as to how he could avoid future performances such as this. \u201cObviously, there\u2019s some dry work you can do. But, no.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pop would then walk Wong to load the bases for Sogard, who hit into a double-play to end the inning and give the Blue Jays life as Houck took a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHe was really good,\u201d praised Red Sox manager Alex Cora of his starter. \u201cEfficient, threw strikes. We played good defence behind him. That was good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cHouck\u2019s good,\u201d added Schneider after the game. \u201cTough fastball. He lives for outings like that, hitting balls into the ground. We didn\u2019t hit many in the air. \u2026 You\u2019ve really got to do more with the pitches you\u2019re swinging at.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Addison Barger wound up ending Houck\u2019s perfect-game bid two batters later with a walk, followed up shortly after by shortstop Ernie Clement singling to left field for Toronto\u2019s first hit of the game. Boston\u2019s lead remained safe on the next play, however, as centre-fielder Jonatan Clase flew out to left field to end the inning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve run into some tough pitching in the last handful of days,\u201d said Schneider of the Blue Jays\u2019 offensive woes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou look at some early swings, and his (Houck\u2019s) pitch count was so low.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Right-hander Tommy Nance took over for Pop to begin the next frame. Despite allowing a triple from Duran, Nance pitched a scoreless sixth, punctuated by striking out Trevor Story to exit the frame unscathed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Right-hander Greg Weissert took over for Houck in the sixth and continued Boston\u2019s strong night on the mound, getting left-fielder Nathan Lukes to ground into a double-play in the next at-bat before star first-baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ultimately ended the inning with a groundout of his own.<\/p>\n

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Left-hander Brendon Little took over from Nance to begin the seventh and kept the Red Sox off the bases with a hitless frame.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Left-hander Zach Penrod came on in relief of Houck in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowing a single to catcher Alejandro Kirk before being replaced by Luis Guerrero, a right-hander, out of the bullpen. Two pitches into his first at-bat, Guerrero got Clement to pop out to second base to end the inning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Blue Jays then sent right-hander Dillon Tate out to face the Red Sox in the eighth. Tate walked Wong to begin the frame and then watched as the Red Sox catcher stole second a few pitches later. Shortly after, Tate would walk Sogard to give Blue Jays pitchers a combined 10 walks on the evening. A double-play by Grissom would give Blue Jays fans brief hope, only for an RBI single by Rafaela to extend Boston\u2019s lead to four.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Erik Swanson took over on the mound for Toronto in the ninth inning and pitched a scoreless frame, giving way to the Blue Jays\u2019 one final attempt at a comeback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lukes began the rally with a leadoff single off of Chris Martin, who entered the contest with just two walks in 41 and 1\/3 innings pitched. Any hopes of a miracle were dashed shortly thereafter, however, as Martin would shut the door and seal the victory for the visiting team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust win tomorrow and see where we\u2019re at,\u201d said Cora of his team\u2019s slim playoff chances. \u201cAnd finish strong, that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Blue Jays dropped to a season-high 11 games below .500 at 73-84. They will get a chance at redemption on Tuesday night in the second game of the series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Boston Red Sox kept their slim playoff hopes alive on Monday by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 in the opener of a three-game road series…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nRed Sox keep playoff hopes alive, beat Blue Jays 4-1 - Sport News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=3671\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox keep playoff hopes alive, beat Blue Jays 4-1 - Sport News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Boston Red Sox kept their slim playoff hopes alive on Monday by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 in the opener of a three-game road series....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=3671\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sport News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-24T07:06:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1-232.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=3671\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.drinkfood.info\/?p=3671\",\"name\":\"Red Sox keep playoff hopes alive, beat Blue Jays 4-1 - 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