The Toronto Blue Jays, who suffered a complete loss in the match against the Texas Rangers, began to advance again. Ryu Hyun-jin (36) will take the baton in the challenge for 4 consecutive wins.
Toronto won the home game 4-3 against the Boston Red Sox held at the Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the 17th (Korean time). With the win on this day, they secured their second consecutive win in the series with Boston and also confirmed the winning series.
Toronto lost all four games against Texas at its home stadium on the 15th and fell to fourth place in the American League Wild Card Series. They lost all four games in a row to their rival, Texas, and seemed to be losing momentum. At the time, the gap between them and the third-place Seattle Mariners, which was the standard for advancing to the postseason, was 1.5 games.
However, as they recorded two consecutive wins again, they began to see a re-entry into the top three. With this win, Toronto, which recorded 82 wins and 67 losses on the season, has a winning percentage of 0.550, which is one league away from Seattle, which has not yet played the schedule on the 17th, without a win (81 wins, 66 losses, a winning percentage of 0.551). Seattle will soon face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers, first place in the National League West Division. If Seattle loses, the rankings will be swapped with Toronto.
The game on the 17th was a tight pitching battle until the middle. The balance of 0-0 was maintained until the 5th inning thanks to good pitching from both teams’ starters. Boston struck first in the 6th inning. Second batter Willier Abreu reached base with a walk and even succeeded in stealing second base. Then, center hitter Rafael Devers hit a two-run home run to take the lead. Toronto also attempted to catch up with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s solo shot in the 7th inning, but failed to score on the subsequent opportunity with the bases loaded with two outs.
Toronto barely managed to catch up in the 9th inning. Pinch hitter Cavern Biggio opened the scoring to second base with a hit to right and a wild pitch after one out. The follow-up batter, Dalton Basho, took advantage of this and hit a long ball that passed the center fielder’s height, scoring the tying run and advancing to third base.
The tense match led to overtime안전놀이터. After being scoreless in the 10th and 11th innings, the two teams traded fire again in the 12th with Boston’s Pablo Reyes’ timely hit and Beau Bichet’s sacrifice fly.
Still, Toronto was on top. In a game-winning situation with runners on base, Toronto had a chance to advance with Santiago Espinal on third base with two outs, and Whit Merrifield brought in a runner with a timely hit, putting an end to the long game.
Although Toronto was unable to secure an individual victory, Chris Bassett played a leading role in the streak by pitching 7 innings, allowing 4 hits, 5 strikeouts, and 2 runs as the starter. Boston starter Chris Sale also lived up to his name as an ace by pitching 6 innings, allowing 2 hits, 10 strikeouts, and 1 run, but failed to add a starting win as the team allowed the score to be tied in the 9th inning.
‘Korean Monster’ Ryu Hyun-jin will be at the forefront of Toronto’s three-game winning streak. Ryu Hyun-jin will challenge for his fourth win of the season against Boston on the 18th. He has 3 wins, 3 losses, and an average ERA of 2.93 in 8 games this season. After returning from elbow surgery rehabilitation, he has pitched less than 5 innings since his return, but in the last game against Texas, he allowed 3 runs in 6 innings, achieving his first quality start of the year (3 earned runs or less in 6 or more innings as a starter).