The Toronto Blue Jays are looking to avoid elimination and a three-game sweep by the Texas Rangers in a best-of-five American League Division Series when the Jays visit Arlington Sunday night.
The key for the AL East champion Blue Jays is getting their offensive mojo back as sluggers Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki are in a slump with a combined 5-for-35.
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“It’s a different group in there. They don’t rattle. They come to play and they think we can win 3, 3 in a row, you know we’ve done it many times. We’re facing a real good team and that’s going to be extra tough to do,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told reporters Sunday.
“I think they key is a nice offensive outburst maybe early in the game, get us on the board, take the lead would do wonders for us. That’s really who we are, we’re an offensive team for the most part so that would lighten the load a little bit maybe help us out tonight if we can maybe get on the board early.”
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Taking the mound for the Jays is right hander Marco Estrada who will face off against Martin Perez in a must-win game for Toronto.
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The Jays fell 5-3 and 6-4 at home against the Rangers and Estrada knows what is at stake.
“I’m taking it the same way as I would any other game,” he said after Friday’s loss at the Rogers Centre. “We’ve got to win regardless. Even if we would have won today, I would have had the same mentality going into the game on Sunday.
“So nothing’s really changed for me. I’m going to give it my all no matter what.”
The 32-year-old Estrada came to Toronto from Milwaukee after trade last November for Adam Lind. He was 13-8 on the season with a 3.13 ERA, which ranked fifth in the AL, in a 28 starts with the Jays.
The Blue Jays are soldiering on without top left-handed reliever Brett Cecil who was ruled out for the remainder of the postseason after tearing a calf muscle in Game 2. Ryan Tepera was added to the Jays playoff roster to replace Cecil.
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“It’s not the way I perceived it ending,” he told reporters Friday.
It is still unclear if the Rangers will have Adrian Beltre back in the lineup Sunday. He remains day-to-day as he continues to battle a lower back strain. The third baseman was injured in Game 1 of the ALDS and sat out Friday’s 14-inning Game 2.
“He’s day to day, has made some improvement, continues to get better,” manager Jeff Banister told reporters Saturday.
“You can never count Adrian out of anything, and where I think he is right now is probably irrelevant.”
Game 3 of the Jays-Rangers series starts at 8:10 p.m. ET.
*With files from the Canadian Press
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