ALDS Game 5: Blue Jays advance to ALCS with wild win over Rangers

The Toronto Blue Jays are headed to the American League Championship Series after one of the wildest games the MLB postseason has ever seen.

In a seventh inning that was almost an hour long, we saw a bizarre play that put the Texas Rangers ahead by a run. Rougned Odor raced home when a throw back to the pitcher hit Shin-Soo Choo's bat handle. As angry as the hometown fans were when umpires allowed the run, they were twice as ecstatic when Jose Bautista hit a colossal three-run homer to re-take the lead in the next half inning. In the seventh, there were three straight errors by the Rangers, replay reviews and two benches-clearing incidents. It was, in two words, baseball insanity.

When it was all said and done, the Blue Jays left the Rogers Centre with a 6-3 victory that nobody in Toronto will forget anytime soon. And not just because the Blue Jays haven't been to the ALCS since 1993. But their hunger for postseason success certainly inspired a raucous victory that will go down in Toronto lore.

• Bautista's huge home run was the difference and might become the signature moment of the postseason by the time we're done. In the game, Bautista had two hits and four RBIs, but most importantly he helped his team roar back in the late innings of an elimination game. In his first postseason, it was an eternal moment for Bautista.

• Odor proved himself to be a must-watch player again in this series. He had two hits at the plate, but it was his quick thinking to run home on the deflected throw back to the pitcher that set the seventh-inning chaos into motion.

• Edwin Encarnacion played a big role in getting the Jays to the crucial seventh inning. With his team down 2-1, Encarnacion hit a mammoth solo homer that tied the game in the sixth. Ultimately, it was just an appetizer for what would happen later.

• Twenty-year-old Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was called on for a five-out save, obviously the biggest moment of his young career. He answered with four strikeouts and sent the Jays to the next round.

 

• It was an all-around awful game for Andrus. He went 0-for-4 at the plate, and was caught stealing in the third inning, but his biggest blunders came in the seventh. Andrus misplayed a grounder by Russell Martin at the top of the frame. With Martin on first, Andrus mishandled a throw to second that would have resulted in an out. Though he wasn't charged for an error on that play, he should have made the catch. On the very next play, the same thing happened. Andrus couldn't handle a throw from Adrian Beltre at third. The Blue Jays would capitalize on those issues, scoring four runs during the inning. Andrus was charged with two errors and, while he wasn't the only Ranger to struggle during the frame, he'll receive the brunt of the criticism.

• Rangers reliever Sam Dyson relieved Cole Hamels in the seventh inning and couldn't protect the Rangers lead. Sure, he didn't get much help from the Rangers' defense, but he gave up the homer to Bautista and then incited the benches to clear when he jawed to Edwin Encarnacion, who was trying to get Jays fans to stop throwing things on the field. He was involved in the second benches-clearing moment too, when he and Troy Tulowitzki clashed at the end of the seventh.

 The bizarre and very important seventh-inning play in which the Rangers went ahead 3-2. Russell Martin was throwing the ball back to the pitcher, but it hit off the bottom of Shin-Soo Choo's bat and ricocheted out toward third base. Rougned Odor, who was on third base, alertly ran home for the go-ahead run.

Home plate umpire Dale Scott waved the play dead, but after arguments from Rangers manager Jeff Banister and a conference of umpires, Odor was ruled safe at the plate and the Rangers went ahead. It seemed like the right call. The chaos and excitement didn't stop there, of course. The Blue Jays were resilient and came back, but this odd play set everything in motion.

	Katie Sharp @ktsharp
Jose Bautista: 1st go-ahead HR by AL batter in 7th inning or later of sudden death postseason game since Aaron Boone in 2003 ALCS. 3:58 PM - 14 Oct 2015

 

 • The craziest seventh inning we've probably ever seen: The wild go-ahead run by the Rangers, Toronto fans losing it and throwing things on the field, the ensuing errors by the Rangers in the next half inning, the huge homer by Bautista, the benches clearing when Edwin Encarnacion was trying to get the fans to stop throwing things, the benches clearing again after the inning ended again. We've never seen anything like it. Holy October.

• How far can the Blue Jays go now? They were thought to be done when the Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the series, but they rattled off three straight wins (a rare feat itself) and are now going intot he next round. Have they found their postseason mojo?

The Blue Jays move on to the ALCS now, where they'll play either the Houston Astros or Kansas City Royals. Their Game 5 is being played Wednesday night. The first game of the ALCS is 7:30 p.m. ET Friday. If the Royals advance, they'll host Game 1. If the Astros win, the Blue Jays host Game 1.