The 6 is lit!
In a win or go home Game 5 of the NLDS, there’s little margin of error you can make, because one loss and it’s the end of the season for the squad. The pressure was on at the Rogers Centre with the ALCS on the horizon, as the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers faced off Wednesday evening.
The Rangers opened up the scoring in the first and the second inning with a Prince Fielder single that brought Delino DeShields in to put the Rangers up 1-0, and a blast out of the park to right field by Shin-Soo Choo in the second inning making it a 2-0 game.
Jose Bautista then brought the Blue Jays within one run in the bottom of the third inning, bringing Ben Revere home after a double to left.
By the bottom of the sixth, it was still 2-1, but that was before Edwin Encarnacion hit a home run shot to left field and tied up the game at 2-2.
Then the seventh inning was like a scene out of a movie because it’s something that’s never happened in MLB history. Let alone on a postseason elimination game with the score tied.
The Rangers scored in the oddest of ways, when Rougned Odor ran home after Russell Martin made a throw to the pitcher that ricocheted off Choo’s bat into third base. The error was truly baffling. The play was originally ruled a dead ball but after review, the go-ahead run was awarded to the Rangers, breaking up the tie score. The play saw an 18-minute delay that had fans throwing debris on to the field and crew workers cleaning it up. Toronto was furious.
Things resumed with tensions high and Toronto went into the bottom of the seventh down one run, but they quickly tied things up when Josh Donaldson hit a grounder, allowing Kevin Pillar to score. With runners on first and third and Bautista up to bat, the stadium was still rumbling from the blunder in top of the 7th when things exploded as Bautista went yard with a 3-run blast.
The emotions were running so high, he had the bat flip of the year following the home run.
Things remained 6-3 until the final out thanks to young Roberto Osuna, who had ice in his veins for the last two innings. The 20-year old is one of the youngest to ever record a save in the postseason and successfully shut down the Rangers bats with 4K’s in his time on the mound.
The Blue Jays now move on to their first ALCS appearance since 1993 and will face the winner of the Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals.