The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Toronto Blue Jays – INSIDE PITCH
There may be hope yet for the Blue Jays. With their starting rotation in tatters and their bullpen fatigued, they came through a week-long trip within the American League East and emerged with a 4-3 record.
They did it Sunday by letting their bats do the talking in a rare offensive outburst for this year’s team, trouncing the fading Boston Red Sox 12-4. They hit five home runs, two by Jose Bautista.
“We’re not used to playing them like that,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “We’d like to try it a little more often. It seems like we’re in every game. They can go one way or the other but we haven’t been winning enough of them so it was nice to get one like that.”
After splitting a four-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays, ending a string of 16 consecutive series losses at Tropicana Field, they dropped the first game in Boston and won the final two.
Chad Jenkins pitched five-plus innings to get the win. He was called up from Class-AA New Hampshire, where he had made one start after opening the season on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation.
So perhaps things are beginning to look up.
But it will take a while to be able to determine if this time really is a turnaround.
“We’ve been kind of waiting on that all year,” Gibbons said. “We’ve had a couple of games like that earlier and it hasn’t really taken off. We’re waiting on that. We know it’s going to happen.”
But is it now, at last? The answer will come in time.
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MLB Team Report – Toronto Blue Jays – NOTES, QUOTES
RECORD: 15-24
STREAK: Won two
PAST 10 GAMES: 5-5
NEXT: Tuesday: Giants (Barry Zito, 3-1, 2.75 at Blue Jays (R.A. Dickey, 2-5, 5.06)
PLAYER NOTES:
–2B Emilio Bonifacio was 3-for-18 lifetime against Red Sox starter Ryan Dempster before Sunday, when Bonifacio doubled and scored in the second inning and then hit his first American League homer with a man on in the fourth. It was the 14th career homer for Bonifacio.
–RHP R.A. Dickey, the 2012 National League Cy Young winner, has to hope a “return” to the NL will help him find his game, as he faces Barry Zito and the Giants Tuesday. Since his last win April 18, Dickey has gone 0-3 with one no-decision and has yielded 16 earned runs in 25 innings. For the season, he has walked 22 and struck out 38.
–RHP Chad Jenkins, who missed most of spring training with right shoulder inflammation, made his 2012 debut Sunday as a replacement for Brandon Morrow Sunday. He worked five-plus innings and got the win. “That was a great game and it starts with the pitcher,” said RF Jose Bautista. “He came up from Double-A and gave us a great start.”
–RF Jose Bautista, batting second for the second straight day, notched the 18th two-homer game of his big league career Sunday, his first since last June 19. He now has 14 homers at Fenway Park, putting him third on the active list of visiting players. Later, he talked about the team’s 4-3 road trip as a positive step but recognized there’s still work to be done. “We played good baseball but we didn’t go 6-1 or we didn’t sweep two series,” he said. “We only played one game over .500 on the road trip but it’s a great way to bounce back because we were playing pretty bad. It’s good just to be playing good baseball; the results are going to come just from the consistency of doing that.”
–RHP Brandon Morrow, originally scheduled to start Friday night in Boston and then pushed back to Sunday and then beyond because of an upper-back problem, threw in the bullpen at Fenway Park and is on target to start Wednesday night against the Giants.
–DH Edwin Encarnacion had his second three-hit game of the season Sunday, including his 11th home run of the year.
–OF Rajai Davis (left oblique strain) was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 11.
–RHP Michael Schwimer (right lat strain) has been reinstated from the 15-day disabled list and has been optioned to Class-AAA Buffalo.
–RHP Sergio Santos (right triceps strain) pitched in extended spring training this past week but when he will start his medical rehabilitation assignment had not yet been determined.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We’ve been kind of waiting on that all year. We’ve had a couple of stretches, even Tampa we had a couple of comeback games and then we lost the next two; one was kind of a heartbreaker … but yesterday and today, we’ve had a couple of games like that earlier on and it really hasn’t taken off. But, yeah, we’re waiting on that. We know it’s going to happen. It’s definitely been a long wait but I’ve got that good feeling out there now.” — Manager John Gibbons, after the Jays hammered the Red Sox 12-4 Sunday, thus beating Boston for the second straight day
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MLB Team Report – Toronto Blue Jays – ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
–RHP Brandon Morrow (upper back spasms) was scratched from scheduled starts in Boston on May 10 and 12, but after a good bullpen session on May 12, he could be ready for May 15.
–OF Rajai Davis (left oblique strain) left the game May 10 after the fifth inning. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 11.
–RHP Michael Schwimer (right lat strain) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 22. He was reinstated May 10 and optioned to Class-AAA Buffalo.
–LHP J.A. Happ (sprained right knee, skull fracture, lacerated left ear) went on the 15-day disabled list May 8. Tests indicated he did not sustain a concussion after taking a line drive to the head May 7. He is expected to be out until early to mid-June.
–RHP Sergio Santos (strained right triceps) went on the 15-day disabled list April 15. An MRI showed a flexor pronator muscle strain. He pitched in extended spring training games May 9 and 11, but when he will start his medical rehabilitation assignment had not yet been determined.
–RHP Josh Johnson (right triceps inflammation) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 29. An MRI showed only inflammation. He is on schedule to throw a minor league rehabilitation game May 21 and is not expected to return to the major league rotation until June.
–SS Jose Reyes (severe left ankle sprain) went on the 15-day disabled list April 13, and he was transferred to the 60-day disabled list on April 23. He does not require surgery. He was in a walking cast as of late April, and the earliest possible date for a return is early July, according to GM Alex Anthopoulos.
–RHP Dustin McGowan (right shoulder surgery in August 2012) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 27, and he was transferred to the 60-day DL on April 9.
–RHP Kyle Drabek (Tommy John surgery in June 2012) went on the 60-day disabled list Feb. 27. He isn’t expected to return before midseason.
–RHP Drew Hutchison (Tommy John surgery in August 2012) went on the 60-day disabled list March 22. He isn’t expected to return until late in the season.
–LHP Luis Perez (Tommy John surgery in July 2012) went on the 60-day disabled list Feb. 23. He probably won’t be available until late in the season.
ROTATION:
RHP R.A. Dickey
RHP Brandon Morrow
LHP Mark Buehrle
RHP Ramon Ortiz
RHP Chad Jenkins
BULLPEN:
RHP Casey Janssen (closer)
LHP Darren Oliver
LHP Brett Cecil
RHP Steve Delabar
LHP Aaron Loup
RHP Esmil Rogers
RHP Brad Lincoln
RHP Mickey Storey
CATCHERS:
J.P. Arencibia
Henry Blanco
INFIELDERS:
1B Edwin Encarnacion
2B Emilio Bonifacio
SS Munenori Kawasaki
3B Brett Lawrie
INF Adam Lind
INF Maicer Izturis
INF Mark DeRosa
OUTFIELDERS:
LF Melky Cabrera
CF Colby Rasmus
RF Jose Bautista
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