Alex Rios, showing a sign of life
Alex Rios has arrived, albeit 52 games into the season. Well, if nothing else, he was on this afternoon, going 4-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles as Toronto won its second straight after a mini nine-game losing skid, 5-3 over the Red Sox. Yep, so much for writing this season off — the Jays are now tied with Boston and just a game back of the first place Yankees. 139-23, here we come!
The Jays came back from an early deficit for the second straight game, with Rios driving in the winner in the seventh after Adam Lind tied things up with a solo job an inning earlier. Brian Tallet earned his third win of the season (3-3) and picked up his sixth straight quality start. Aside from his disastrous start in Kansas City last month, he’s got a nice little 2.98 ERA in eight starts and four relief appearances. All-Star? In my heart, of course.
Anyway, with the losing streak long forgotten and championship hopes restored, Toronto will be looking to wrap up a sweep tomorrow when 2009 Rookie of the Year Ricky Romero takes the hill against one-year wonder Jon Lester (Note: sarcasm).
After 2 innings of work, where Tallet threw 59 pitches, I became a tad skeptical that he’d pull through to grab the win. But you’re right, Rios was a gem. When he first stepped up to the plate to face Penny, and his career stats vs. the hurler popped up at the bottom of the screen; I knew he was going to have an awesome game. No lie, Jiggy. I had a feeling.
By: Natasha on May 31, 2009
at 11:19 am
Yeah, it was about time we got around to Penny, given how many straight fastballs he leaves over the middle of the plate…
By: Jeremy on May 31, 2009
at 5:27 pm