Sportsnet: Blue Jays Donaldson, Bautista in lineup for Game 2

The victory gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Division Series, with a potentially decisive game three at the Rangers’ home park in Arlington, Texas, tomorrow.

Both bullpens did their job as the innings kept coming. The teams traded runs in the second inning to knot the game at 3-3 entering the third. Bautista left Thursday after the eighth inning with a hamstring cramp…. A Fielder line shot deflected off Ryan Goins, leaving Texas with two men on.

Blue Jays Third Baseman Josh Donaldson attempts to slide to a base. And all the so-called experts north of the border seem to have the Jays World Series-bound.

“Just weird moments in the game”, first baseman Chris Colabello said.

Gibbons also refused to bite on complaints of a changing strike zone and close calls, dismissing it as part of the game. Although they led in hits with 6 they only ended up bringing 3 home.

Donaldson was back in the lineup after taking a knee to the head trying to break up a double play in the opener.

With the Jays reeling in the opening inning, Colabello helped limit the damage with a quirky unassisted double-play.

The Rangers will have to continue to get the timely hitting they received in the first two games – particularly from Hanser Alberto on Friday, filling in at third base for injured Adrian Beltre.

Price, without the smile that has been affixed to his face for the past two months, said he felt good on the mound, but he “just didn’t make pitches in the big spots when I needed to”. However, he wasn’t expecting a diving Tulowitzki to come out of nowhere to steal said hit away from him. We’ve got four games today, three hour windows.

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson reacts in the dugout as the Texas Rangers defeated the Blue Jays during 14th inning ALDS playoff baseball action in Toronto on Friday, October 9, 2015. Over his seven-inning session, he recorded 13 outs on ground balls. After an unexpected Game One win against David Price and the Toronto Juggernauts, the Rangers have an edge going into Hamels’s first postseason start with Texas.

There were gutsy performances all-round in an entertaining game that started with a bit of everything before settling back to the expected showdown between Stroman and Hamels.

Center fielder Delino DeShields beat out an infield single to shortstop and another run scored. “I look at the success that Toronto had on the field, but maybe more important, I think their broadcast average of 1.6 million in the month of September clearly got the whole country engaged and it’s really good for the growth of the game”. He will presumably miss at least the rest of the series. The reliever worked an ining of scoreless relief in the thirteenth.

Jays nemesis Rougned Odor beat out an outfield single off LaTroy Hawkins, the Jays’ seventh pitcher, to start the two-out rally.

Umpires on the field called Odor safe and video review from Major League Baseball’s offices in New York City upheld that decision, although fans at Rogers Centre loudly voiced their displeasure with coarse chants. “He’s got a pretty significant tear, so that’s not very good”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said…. “From what we saw on the board, looked like there might have been a little gap, whether enough to overturn or not, apparently not”.