After he homered, a fan threw the ball almost back to the infield. Odor was suspended seven games.īy time Bautista led off the seventh with a walk, the ballpark was quiet with the Rangers down 7-0. There also were chants of 'Rougie! Rougie!' - those were for Rougned Odor, the second baseman who punched Bautista and ignited a bench-clearing brawl in their last meeting May 15. Toronto has won four straight overall, including an 11-inning, 5-2 victory over Baltimore in the AL wild-card game Tuesday night.īautista was booed heartily during pregame introductions and while he batted in the first inning. Troy Tulowitzki hit a bases-loaded triple for the Blue Jays. Gibbons removed the right-hander after Shin-Soo Choo's RBI grounder ended the shutout bid. The last of the Rangers' four hits off Estrada was Elvis Andrus' leadoff triple in the ninth. No matter, Estrada gave them all they needed to start this best-of-five series. As well as he's pitched in two years here, really no need.'Įstrada has never pitched a complete game in the majors and the Blue Jays didn't throw one this season. 'He's mastered his craft,' manager John Gibbons said. The All-Star right-hander with an impressive changeup, who won Game 3 in last year's ALDS after Toronto lost the first two at home, struck out six without a walk. Marco Estrada took a shutout into the ninth inning. He drove in four runs this time, including an RBI single in Toronto's five-run third off All-Star lefty Cole Hamels. So I don't think there was anything too special about laying it down the way I did, because that's the way that 99.9-plus percent of the time I do it.'īautista had that emphatic bat flip after his tiebreaking homer in the ALDS Game 5 clincher last October against the Rangers, and got punched the last time the Blue Jays played in Texas in May. 'Just kind of been blown out of proportion because of the moment last year. 'I have a couple of home runs in my career and I think I've only flipped it once,' Bautista said.

This time, Bautista dropped his bat softly near home plate and rounded the bases after a 425-foot, three-run blast in the ninth inning of the Blue Jays' 10-1 romp Thursday in Game 1 of the AL Division Series.

Blue Jays stomp Rangers behind Marco Estrada, Jose BautistaĪRLINGTON, Texas - Jose Bautista hit another long, punctuating home run for the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs against the Texas Rangers.

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