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on a dunk from Landry Fields. The
TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays have used power, speed and pitching on a recent surge that has put them in first place in the American League East. Custom New York Mets Jerseys . Their 3-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday showed just how well that combination can work. Edwin Encarnacion provided the power with his 14th homer of the season, Jose Reyes provided the speed by equalling a career best for a game with three stolen bases and left-hander J.A. Happ provided the pitching with seven runless innings. Put it all together, and you get a team thats on a season-best six-game winning streak and has won 16 of its past 21 games. "I dont know if you ever see it coming," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "What it really comes down to is were just playing good baseball. The starting pitching has been really good, our offence has been alive, the bullpen has been solid." The Blue Jays (29-22) swept the three-game series with the Athletics (30-20) who lead the AL West despite losing their past four games. "Our three pitchers and their three pitchers were very good," Gibbons said. "And in those tight ball games, some clutch hitting and some great base running made the difference in most of those games. So ride it, ride it." It was Torontos second straight sweep after taking three games from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Happ (4-1) allowed four hits and three walks while striking out seven in his longest outing of the season. "Hes filling up the strike zone," Gibbons said. "Hes really doing a nice job of using his fastball on both sides of the plate. Hes locked in right now. (Catcher Erik) Kratz has done a great job with him." Dustin McGowan replaced Happ in the eighth and allowed Josh Donaldsons 11th homer of the season. Casey Janssen pitched the ninth inning to earn his seventh save in as many attempts this season. "Definitely wanted to pitch off the fastball today and Kratz did a great job behind the plate," Happ said. "We were on the same page and tried to use that. "First and foremost it was about me throwing the ball where Im supposed to throw it, and then pitching off the fastball and using everything. I thought today we did a good job establishing the fastball." As left-hander Drew Pomeranz (4-2) allowed five hits, four walks and two runs in four-plus innings. "I think I maybe tried to locate a little too much instead of going right at guys and ended up walking too many people and being in bad counts a lot," Pomeranz said. "I wasnt attacking guys like I should have." The Blue Jays did not have a hit until Encarnacion homered to left on a 2-2 fastball with one out in the fourth. It was the 14th of the year and the 12th of the month, tying him with Jose Bautista for the team record for homers in May. The run also snapped a string of 18 consecutive runless innings for Pomeranz. Toronto went on to load the bases in the inning on singles by Brett Lawrie and Dioner Navarro and a walk by Steve Tolleson, but Kratz grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the fifth on a single to centre by Kevin Pillar, an infield hit by Reyes and a walk to Melky Cabrera. Bautista singled off right-hander Jim Johnson to score one run, but Reyes was thrown out at home by left-fielder Yoenis Cespedes. Encarnacions pop to centre field dropped in but Bautista was forced at second on centre-fielder Craig Gentrys throw to Johnson covering second base. Gibbons immediately challenged but the review upheld the call. Unconvinced, Gibbons argued and was ejected for the first time this season. "I was looking up at that (score) board and it looked pretty obvious to me," Gibbons said. "Their video probably isnt as big as that board maybe. I guess its a good system but its not a perfect system. That was big right there. We were sitting pretty good with a chance to blow the game open if hes safe. The out call changes the whole complexion a I thought they got it wrong out there." Bautistas sacrifice fly against right-hander Luke Gregerson in the seventh gave Toronto a 3-0 lead, scoring Reyes who opened the inning with a single and stole second and third. The three steals in a game equalled a career best for Reyes who has done it eight times. The previous time was Sept. 25, 2008, against the Chicago Cubs when he was with the New York Mets. "He can really generate his own runs when he gets in scoring position," Gibbons said. "Jose is feeling good right now. ... Hes exciting, thats one of the reasons they brought him over here." The Athletics completed a nine-game trip at 5-4 starting with five wins against the Cleveland Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays. "You go through these periods," As manager Bob Melvin said. "Youve just got to fight your way through it. "Youre not always going to score seven, eight runs a game and right now were going through a drought." NOTES: The last time the Blue Jays were alone in first place later than May 24 was July 6, 2000. aRight-hander R.A. Dickey lowered his earned-run average to 3.95 with his 8 1/3-inning outing in Saturdays win to drop his ERA below 4.00 for the first time in his Blue Jays career. a The Blue Jays open a three-game series at Rogers Centre against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday with right-hander Drew Hutchison (3-3, 3.45 ERA) facing Ottawa left-hander Erik Bedard (2-2. 2.63 ERA). aAttendance was 45,277, the fourth sellout of the season. New York Mets Store . Ramirez is still hitting behind Puig, only now they are in the third and fourth spots, and the change is starting to generate positive results for manager Don Mattingly. Fake Mets Jerseys . Hernandez (3-0) struck out 11 and shut down Oakland for the second time in a week, becoming the first Mariners pitcher to win three times in the first nine games of a season. With the usual "Kings Court" for Hernandez home starts expanded to a "Supreme Court" encompassing the entire stadium with yellow shirts and "K" cards, Hernandez gave up four hits in the 28th double-digit strikeout game of his career.TORONTO - Patrick Patterson said the memory of last years Raptors playoff run, and the heartbreaking way it ended, was on his mind from the moment he woke up Wednesday morning.If Wednesday night was a chance at payback, the Raptors accomplished it with a slam dunk — a 105-89 rout of the rival Brooklyn Nets.Im definitely happy that we won the game, that we handled our business out there, Patterson said. It was a bit of revenge in my eyes, even though its a different team, even though they have different personnel, it was still a great environment, just like Game 7.Kyle Lowry had 20 points and 12 assists, while Jonas Valanciunas added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors (20-6), who reached 20 wins before Christmas for the first time in franchise history.Patterson, Amir Johnson, and Greivis Vasquez finished with 13 points apiece.The game marked the first meeting between the two teams since the Nets dispatched the Raptors in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs — a spirited series that saw Raptors GM Masai Ujiri drop an F-bomb, and drew thousands of fans to Maple Leaf Square each game.But Raptors coach Dwane Casey said Wednesdays game, which was also Drake Night, wasnt about revenge.Were on a different path. Next game. Im already thinking about Detroit (Friday), Casey said.He said hes proud of the teams record as the fastest to reach 20 wins. But the coach is never one to celebrate.We are proud, everything weve done is to benefit the growth of our team, Casey said. But as you see, we have a lot of areas that we can improve on. Im a realist, where Im going to continue to pick out the places where we need to grow and get better.The Raptors entered the night with a half-game lead over idle Washington atop the Eastern Conference, and a full eight games ahead of the Nets in the race for the Atlantic Division title.The two teams paced each other for most of the night in a game that saw 11 lead changes through the first three quarters. The Raptors took just a 76-73 advantage into the fourth.But the Raptors have become known for their strong fourth quarters, especially at the Air Canada Centre, and Wednesday was no different. When Patterson drained a three-pointer with 4:35 to play, it put the Raptors up by 14 and brought the fans out of their seats.The Raptors owned the Nets over the final few minutes. When Joe Johnson went 0-for-3 at the free throw line, chantts of Brooklyn sucks! rolled around the arena. New York Mets Gear. And by the time Vasquez scored on a three-pointer with a minute to play, it gave the Raptors an 18-point lead.Much to the fans delight, rookie Bruno Caboclo made an appearance — the second of his career — for the games final few seconds, prompting chants of Lets go Bru-no!He went in for the wrong guy, too. We have to get that cleaned up, Casey said, with a chuckle. I tell you what, the young kid is going to be a player, the coach added. Ive never seen a young kid work as hard as he works on his game each and every day. He lives basketball, he sleeps it. . . so hes living the dream right now and Im so happy for him.Mason Plumlee had 23 points to top the Nets (10-14), while Joe Johnson added 17. The Raptors dropped Game 7 of last seasons playoff series in a 104-103 loss to the Nets at the ACC.Casey said it took him a couple of months to get over that loss.Going over each play, what we could have done different — the whole series, the playoff approach, the coach said. When youre that intense for that period of time, it takes a while to shut it down.Drake hosted his second annual Drake Night. All 19,800 fans were given keepsake T-shirts, and the Canadian rapper, whos also the teams global ambassador, did the pre-game player introductions.Drake said he chose the Nets for his night because of the obvious rivalry.If theres anybody that I want to beat, its the Nets, Drake said. Obviously, Ive got much love for New York and Brooklyn but in this particular arena at this particular moment, the one thing I want to do is knock out Brooklyn.The Raptors allowed the Nets to shoot 59 per cent in the first quarter, and trailed by 11 points after a three-pointer by Mirza Teletovic with 1:38 left in the frame. The Nets took a 30-22 advantage into the second.Johnson led the way with seven points and five boards in a second quarter that saw the Raptors outscore the Nets 31-22. Lowry banked a jumper off the glass to send them into the halftime break up 53-52.Valanciunas poured in 10 points in the third, and the Raptors took a six-point lead on a dunk from Landry Fields. They led by three with one quarter left.The Raptors are in Detroit on Friday, then return home to host the New York Knicks on Sunday. . . They head west for a gruelling six-game road trip while the world junior hockey championships are in Toronto. ' ' '
- Created: Oct 22 '19
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