Jose Bautista send Blue Jays into euphoria (Video)
The Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers are putting forth one of the most memorable Major League Baseball games of all-time. Texas took a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning at Rogers Centre in Game 5 of the American League Division Series.
The Rangers grabbed the advantage on a wild play that was documented here, and it needs to be read about and watched. It was truly that incredible. Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning, Toronto reached base in three consecutive at-bats due to a trio of Texas errors. Then, after a Ben Revere groundout and a Josh Donaldson RBI single, Jose Bautista stepped to the plate with two on and two outs. The result was epic:
And the epic bat flip…
For Bautista, it has to easily be the most memorable moment of his baseball career. Bautista got a fastball tailing in and was able to get his hands in and the bat barrel around, launching the baseball into the stratosphere. It was one of the best homers we have seen in years, considering the time, place and crowd.
The Blue Jays had not been to the playoffs since 1993, when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies on a walk-off home run by Joe Carter in the World Series. In this series, Toronto lost the first two games of the series at home before rallying to force a decisive Game 5.
Texas has six outs to make it happen, or it becomes the loser of one of the greatest games we have seen.