Daisuke Matsuzaka dominated the Toronto Blue Jays for 7 innings as the Boston Red Sox went on to win 3-0 in front of 38,814 at Rogers Centre on Sunday afternoon.
The win for the Red Sox cuts their magic number for a playoff spot down to 1. A Yankees loss tonight against the Orioles and the Red Sox are in. The Red Sox are also now 1.5 games behind the Rays as they fell this afternoon to the Twins.
Dice-K finishes 9-0 in 13 starts on the road this season.
This was the Matsuzaka that we’ve been waiting for. He didn’t nibble, attacked the hitters and had good command and location of all his pitches. He allowed just 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6 on 109 pitches. Hideki Okajima worked a perfect 8th inning and Jonathan Papelbon picked his 40th save despite allowing a hit in the 9th.
Jacoby Ellsbury paced the Red Sox offense with 3 hits, including 2 doubles and a triple. David Ortiz had the big blow with a 2-run home run for his only hit of the day while Dustin Pedroia knocked in the other run and added a hit. Jason Varitek and Mark Kotsay had the other hits for the Red Sox.
The Red Sox got things started quickly in the 1st inning off of Scott Richmond. Ellsbury led the inning off with a triple and came into score on a sacrifice fly by Pedroia.
Matsuzaka’s only rough inning of the day came in the 2nd inning.
Vernon Wells led off with a double and went to third on an Adam Lind ground out. Dice-K then walked Lyle Overbay but rebounded to strikeout Scott Rolen and Travis Snider.
After Varitek struck out to second, Ellsbury doubled to deep center on a ball that was almost caught by Wells. Pedroia grounded out to third with Ellsbury moving to third on the play. Big Papi gave Dice-K and the Red Sox all the runs they would need with an opposite field 2-run home run to put the visiting 9 up 3-0.
The Red Sox now head home for 4 games with the Cleveland Indians and 3 games with the Yankees to close out the 2008 campaign. Big game Josh Beckett gets the ball tomorrow night for the Red Sox.
Notes and musings:
Red Sox @ Blue Jays 9.21.08 boxscore
Jason Bay reached the 100 RBI mark for 3rd time in his career on Saturday. With 109 runs, 31 homers, and 101 RBI, Bay is just the 6th player ever with 30+ HR, 100+ R and 100+ RBI in a season during which he was traded, joining Carlos Lee (2006), Carlos Beltran (2004), Fred McGriff (1993), Ralph Kiner (1953) and Goose Goslin (1930).
Jacoby Ellsbury recorded his 49th steal yesterday. Since 1900, 19 rookies have had at least 50 SB in a season, the last 2, Florida’s Hanley Ramirez (51) in 2006 and Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki (56) in 2001.
The Jays and Red Sox split the season series 9-9.
Pedroia’s double was his MLB-leading 52nd.
Sox on streaks:
Jacoby Ellsbury has an 12-game hitting streak
Jason Bay saw his 5-game hitting streak end
Mike Lowell has a 3-game hitting streak
Kevin Youkilis saw his 3-game hitting streak end
