The Toronto Blue Jays won 7-3 over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays Friday night, keeping their playoff hopes alive.
The Jays’ bats came together to put up eight hits in the game, and with that offense, local favorite Dustin McGowan got his tenth win of the season.
McGowan, who has been about as solid as he could be over the last six weeks, hadn't been getting much help from the bats on the Blue Jay team, resulting in him and the club garnering a few losses that would have been wins on several other clubs.
But on Friday, Toronto put up three runs in the fifth and four more runs in the sixth, to give the right-hander from Long County the cushion he needed.
In the other dugout, Devil Rays starter Edwin Jackson, was no slouch either as he held the Jays scoreless through 4-2/3rd innings and didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning. But on this night McGowan would have both accuracy and power, and demonstrated why scouts had been saying for years he had all the tools to dominate.
In the contest, McGowan threw 110 pitches with 73 of them going for strikes, posting career high 12 strikeouts against the Rays. After the game, McGowan reflected a little on his season as he said he felt he had grown a lot, and just wanted to build on all he had learned for the rest of the season and beyond.
The right-hander has been growing a lot lately as he has posted a 3.62 ERA over his last five starts, bringing his ERA for the year below the four mark, at 3.90.
In the game against Tampa Bay, the 25-year-old went 8 innings, giving up only 4 hits, 1 walk and 2 earned runs. He faced 29 batters, striking out 12, and had 6 for 6 in ground outs-fly outs. His win-loss record for the year is now 10-8.
With the win, Toronto (72-68) has now gone 7-3 over the last 10 games, and have moved to 6.5 games behind the New York Yankees (79-62), in the American League East Wild Card chase. Between the Yankees and the Blue Jays are Detroit (76-65) and Seattle (74-65).
The Jays will have a chance over the next week to make up some ground as they travel to Detroit on the 10th to take on the Tigers in a make-up game, and then face the Yankees at home for a three-game series beginning on the 11th.
The Jays’ bats came together to put up eight hits in the game, and with that offense, local favorite Dustin McGowan got his tenth win of the season.
McGowan, who has been about as solid as he could be over the last six weeks, hadn't been getting much help from the bats on the Blue Jay team, resulting in him and the club garnering a few losses that would have been wins on several other clubs.
But on Friday, Toronto put up three runs in the fifth and four more runs in the sixth, to give the right-hander from Long County the cushion he needed.
In the other dugout, Devil Rays starter Edwin Jackson, was no slouch either as he held the Jays scoreless through 4-2/3rd innings and didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning. But on this night McGowan would have both accuracy and power, and demonstrated why scouts had been saying for years he had all the tools to dominate.
In the contest, McGowan threw 110 pitches with 73 of them going for strikes, posting career high 12 strikeouts against the Rays. After the game, McGowan reflected a little on his season as he said he felt he had grown a lot, and just wanted to build on all he had learned for the rest of the season and beyond.
The right-hander has been growing a lot lately as he has posted a 3.62 ERA over his last five starts, bringing his ERA for the year below the four mark, at 3.90.
In the game against Tampa Bay, the 25-year-old went 8 innings, giving up only 4 hits, 1 walk and 2 earned runs. He faced 29 batters, striking out 12, and had 6 for 6 in ground outs-fly outs. His win-loss record for the year is now 10-8.
With the win, Toronto (72-68) has now gone 7-3 over the last 10 games, and have moved to 6.5 games behind the New York Yankees (79-62), in the American League East Wild Card chase. Between the Yankees and the Blue Jays are Detroit (76-65) and Seattle (74-65).
The Jays will have a chance over the next week to make up some ground as they travel to Detroit on the 10th to take on the Tigers in a make-up game, and then face the Yankees at home for a three-game series beginning on the 11th.