Red Sox - 000 000 000 - 0 2 1 Blue Jays - 000 260 00x - 8 11 1The Red Sox managed two singles at Skydome on Wednesday night, one in the first inning and one in the ninth.
Wilmer Font (2-1-0-0-2, 23) pitched the first two innings for Toronto, before Trent Thornton threw five no-hit innings, striking out seven (5-0-0-1-7, 75). Jason Adam and Ryan Tepera took care of the eighth and ninth, respectively.
After Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run dong off Trevor Kelley in the fourth, the Blue Jays unloaded on Ryan Weber and Travis Lakins in the fifth. With one out, Weber surrendered singles to Danny Jansen, Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio, loading the bases. Vladimir Guerrero singled home two runs (4-0). Brian Johnson retired Tellez, but Lakins gave up a two-run double to Randal Grichuk (6-0) and a two-run homer to Teoscar Hernández (8-0).
Rafael Devers singled to left with two outs in the first inning, but J.D. Martinez flied to right. Christian Vázquez reached base on an infield throwing error with two outs in the second. He also stole second base, but was stranded as Jackie Bradley struck out. Xander Bogaerts walked with two outs in the third before Devers fanned.
Devers was the first of 16 straight Red Sox batters to be retired. In that time, the score changed from 0-0 to 0-8. Boston's streak of futility was snapped when Brock Holt singled to lead off the ninth. But the next three batters - Chris Owings, Devers, and Martinez - each grounded into a fielder's choice and a force out at second base.
AL Wild Card: TBR +0.5, OAK –, CLE 0.5, BOS 10.0.
Holt, RFBobby Poyner is the Red Sox's 15th starting pitcher this season, the most since 1958 (18).
Bogaerts, SS
Devers, 3B
Martinez, DH
Moreland, 1B
Benintendi, LF
Vázquez, C
Bradley, CF
M. Hernández, 2B
Sean McAdam (Boston Sports Journal) offers one (reasonable) explanation of why the late Sunday night firing of Dave Dombrowski happened when it did.
Dombrowski was never thought of as a long-term solution as general manager (or "president of baseball operations"). His contract was up at the end of 2020 and with several important roster decisions in the immediate future (Mookie Betts being #1) and the task of rebuilding the farm system, the ownership group did not want Dombrowski in a lame-duck position next season, making decisions that his successor would have to live with for years.
The Red Sox were going to let Dombrowski go at the end of this season, but last Sunday night, according to McAdam, Dombrowski pressed someone in the ownership group for clarification on his future. There was a hastily-called meeting and
Dombrowski was told he would not be returning for the final year of his contract and he eventually left the ballpark.The Red Sox scrambled to issue the news on their own, doing so shortly after midnight. The firing was made official on Monday. As McAdam writes: "Sunday wasn't the first time that Dombrowski had sought some clarification on his future from ownership — merely the last."
After informing Dombrowski of the decision, the Red Sox had planned to keep the news from going public Sunday night and scheduled a press release for Monday.
But then some hints of the firing began showing up on social media. In some areas of the ballpark, workers got word of the move and began spreading the news.
McAdam adds that Dombrowski felt he was underpaid ($2.5-$3 million annually), both relative to his accomplishments and in comparison to other GM-level men in the game, such as Theo Epstein of the Cubs and Andrew Friedman of the Dodgers, who are both paid more than $7 million annually.
AL Wild Card: TBR +1.5, OAK –, CLE 0.5, BOS 9.0.
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