McDavid, Skinner expecting Tkachuk’s A-game ahead of Stanley Cup Final
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and goalie Stuart Skinner discuss what they expect to see from Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk during the Stanley Cup Finals and how they plan to mitigate his impact.
TORONTO – For this makeshift bullpen-day rotation spot to be sustainable for any sort of short-term, let alone long-term period, the Toronto Blue Jays are going to need Jose Berrios to consistently follow-up with the type of performance he delivered Wednesday.
For the Blue Jays to nudge their front office from sell to buy before the July 30 trade deadline, their offence will need to deliver more timely hits the way Isiah Kiner-Falefa did in a walk-off 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Kiner-Falefa broke through a tightly pitched affair by sending a drive to deep right field that allowed Cavan Biggio to scamper home as a crowd of 27,929 roared in delight.
Justin Turner, dropped to sixth in the lineup, led off the inning with a single off closer Craig Kimbrel and Biggio promptly came in to pinch-run for him. An errant pickoff throw moved him to second, he then took third on Alejandro Kirk’s flyout to deep right, setting the stage for Kiner-Falefa.
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Berrios’ six innings of two-run ball gave the Blue Jays bullpen a needed breather a day after six relievers, beginning with Trevor Richards’ two shutout innings, filled the injured Alek Manoah’s vacant spot in Tuesday’s 10-1 loss.
That left Berrios precious little margin for error against an Orioles offence that pounded out seven homers among 19 hits that produced 17 runs in the first two games of the series.
Second-inning aside, when Anthony Santander went down to get a 1-2 slurve falling out of the zone and sent it 436 feet to left-centre and Ramon Urias doubled home a Cedric Mullins walk, Berrios kept the dangerous lineup very much at bay.
The Blue Jays tied the game in the bottom of the second as George Springer walked, advanced to third on Justin Turner’s double and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly. Kiner-Falefa followed with an RBI single that evened the score.
Bo Bichette doubled to lead off the sixth and two outs later, Kirk singled sharply to right. Ryan O’Hearn fielded it instantly and fired home before Bichette had even rounded third, prompeting third-base coach Carlos Febles to rightly throw up a stop sign.
Kiner-Falefa proceeded to strike out, ending the frame, but didn’t miss the next time an opportunity came up.