White Sox rally to beat Jays in ninth
CHICAGO - Marco Estrada has been looking for his good stuff all summer. On Monday night, he found it on the south side of Chicago.
However, the Jays bullpen lost their way, giving up four runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth as the White Sox came back to defeat Toronto 7-6. Toronto closer Roberto Osuna gave up the final two runs to pick up the loss and his second straight blown save.
Heading into Monday night’s game at Guaranteed Rate Field, Estrada had lost five straight decisions. Since the start of June, he has posted an 8.87 ERA with a .324 opponents average and a 2.06 WHIP. But on a warm Chicago night, he stymied the rebuilding Sox, going seven innings and giving up one run on four hits.
“It’s just one start, but I did feel a lot better out there. Obviously I haven’t been myself lately,” Estrada said. “Slowed the game down and just made sure I threw strikes. I was around the plate, made a lot of good pitches and basically threw fastballs and change ups today and that’s how well I was locating.”
Estrada had been the topic of trade rumours in the weeks leading up to Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline and admitted it weighed on his mind.
“I’m glad it’s done with and don’t have to hear about it anymore,” he said. “When you keep getting asked everyday, it’s kind of hard to let it go. Baseball’s a business, I understand, that’s part of it. If (a trade) was going to happen, it was going to happen but I expressed to them that I’m really happy here and I love playing for Toronto. Just wished we would have won.”
