Toronto Blue Jays: Reflecting on 10 Key Moments from Wild Card Game
By Vinnie
10. The Bat Drop
With runners on the corners and one away, all the Blue Jays needed was a deep fly ball to bring home Travis on a sac fly. Who else better suited to do this but the AL regular season RBI champion, Edwin Encarnacion.
My first thought was, they are going to walk him for sure, why wouldn’t they? Buck Showalter called timeout for a meeting at the mound and the result of the meeting appeared to be that they were going to pitch to Encarnacion.
I turned to my sister and said with excitement, “(haha) I can’t believe they aren’t walking him but oh well, I’m not complaining. That’s a mistake.” I guess they feared Bautista, who was due up next, but rightly so. Not to mention, they had opted to keep Zach Britton in the bullpen, who has allowed just one earned run since April.
With the decision made, I held my breath as Jimenez delivered the pitch to EE. BOOM, as soon as Encarnacion touched the ball, I knew it was gone because he got ALL of it. I jumped up on the sound from the crack of the bat and shouted “IT’S OVER!”
The Jays did it, they advanced to the ALDS to take on the Rangers. Oh, how sweet it is!
Upon the replay, you could see Encarnacion was hoping to get exactly that pitch because of his big, well timed, leg kick. What followed was what will forever be remembered as “The Bat Drop”. Encarnacion held his hands up high, Robbie-esque like, and let the bat drop to the ground, the way a free-style rapper would drop the mic.
There was a moment last week where Encarnacion sat in the dugout and was the last to leave following the Jays final regular season home game, which ended in a loss. He was emotional and didn’t want his last game in the Rogers Centre as a Jay to end that way. That couldn’t be it, right? Well it wasn’t big guy, you keep on walking that parrot.
Next: Osuna Expected Back for Rangers Series
What was your favourite moment from the AL Wild Card game? Let us know in the comments section below.