Allgemeines » gets behind in the count

TORONTO - When Todd Redmond takes the mound on Sunday afternoon, hell be looking to pitch the Blue Jays to a series sweep over the Rays and, depending on two out-of-town results, send his hometown team away without a playoff berth. “Thats fine. Im okay with that,” said Redmond. “Im going to go out there and treat it like any other start. Its the last game of the year and we have a chance to win a game. Thats how Im going to treat it.” Redmond is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida. He grew up going to Devil Rays games. He says he wasnt a fan of the team, they werent a good team at the time, but he and his friends would descend upon Tropicana Field to watch baseball and seek out autographs. A few of his pals got in touch with him on Saturday. “Ive had a few texts already,” said Redmond. “My buddy texted me earlier. He said that hes getting some people calling him saying to not do so good. But he told me to out there and beat them and send them home. Thats what Im going to try to do.” Sundays start, in the Jays season finale, will be Redmonds 14th of the year. Hes 4-1 with a 3.80 ERA in his first 13 starts. Picked up on waivers from the Orioles during spring training, the 28-year-old was little more than an afterthought, a depth guy, at the time. Now hes given the front office, and the manager, something to think about as the Blue Jays prepare for 2014. “Its a pretty good story,” said manager John Gibbons. “He came out of nowhere, we didnt know what to expect but he really forced his way, earned his way into that rotation and hes done a great job. His last few outings, too, hes shown where he can go further and further into the game and maintain things. Early on he was basically a three, four inning guy, maybe you hoped to get five. He put himself on the map. Its a nice story. Its been a long road for him. Im sure hes pretty excited about it.” Redmond knows hell have many eyes from back home watching him on Sunday afternoon. “You want to go out there and throw strikes, get ahead of hitters and treat this like any other start,” he said. “Treat it like my last start in Baltimore. Im still trying to earn a spot for next year so trying to impress and go out there and throw strikes and try to get people out.” TIE-BREAK SCENARIOS The Rays arrived in Toronto with a one-game lead on Cleveland for the American Leagues top wild card spot. Texas, on the outside, was two games back of Tampa Bay and a game back of the Indians, which held the second wild card spot. Since, the Rays have dropped two games to the Blue Jays while the Indians (visiting the Twins) and the Rangers (hosting the Angels) have each won twice. Entering today, with two playoff spots available, here are the wild card standings: Cleveland (91-70): – Tampa Bay (90-71): 1GB Texas (90-71): 1 GB In the event of a three way tie (that is, the Rays and Rangers win on Sunday and the Indians lose) Tampa Bay would visit Cleveland on Monday. The winner of that game would advance to Wednesdays wild card play-in game, while the loser would travel to Arlington, Texas to visit the Rangers on Tuesday for the right to play on Wednesday. All of that to say, the Rays have created a mess for themselves by playing so poorly in Toronto this weekend. Where can one buy good quality but cheap jerseys .2 million in 2012, according to tax returns the league has submitted. What is the best Chinese web site for cheap Jerseys . 3 Ohio State. Amedeo Della Valle had 15 points, Marc Loving scored a career-high 13 and the bench provided 38 points as the Buckeyes sprinted past Nebraska 84-53 on Saturday. https://www.wheretobuycheapjerseys.com/. 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Then, the NL Wild Card-leading San Franciso Giants entertain the Arizona Diamondbacks. All the action gets underway at 7pm et/4pm pt. Royals at Tigers - 7pm et/4pm pt (TSN2) Rick Porcello has gotten the better of James Shields twice already this season. With a chance to move past Kansas City for first place in the American League Central, Porcello will try to make it a hat trick on Wednesday evening as the Detroit Tigers go for a three-game sweep of the Royals. Porcello is 15-10 with a 3.30 earned run average this season, but yielded six runs -- three earned -- and 11 hits over 6 2/3 frames of a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 31. The right-hander followed up with another setback to San Francisco on Friday, charged with six runs, one of them unearned, and 10 hits over a mere three innings of work. "It was a combination of some good pitches that got hit and some bad pitches that got hit, and they capitalized on all of them," Porcello said. The 25-year-old has allowed only three runs over 14 innings in a pair of wins over the Royals this year, defeating Shields both times. Shields goes up against Porcello again tonight and is 0-2 with a 5.49 ERA in three meetings with the Tigers overall on the year. Shields has won four of his last five decisions and pitched a gem last time out to get a 1-0 win over the New York Yankees on Friday. The righty gave up three hits and struck out six over 8 1/3 scoreless innings, retiring 11 in a row before allowing a one-out single in the ninth. "Any time you face this team its going to be a grind," Shields said. "To be able to pitch like that and save our bullpen for our road trip was nice." The 32-year-old Shields is 13-7 this season with a 3.23 ERA. Kansas City has lost 11 of 15 to Detroit this season, and allowed the Tigers to pull into a tie atop the AL Central by losing the first two games of this series. The Royals had won five of six overall coming in. Max Scherzer, who was roughed up for a career high-tying 10 runs in a meeting with Kansas City on June 17, held the Royals to one run over 6 2/3 frames in last nights 4-2 Detroit win. Rajai Davis smacked a two-run homer and J.D. Martinez added a solo shot in the triumph, Detroits third in a row overall. "This is a huge series and were getting huge wins," Scherzer said. "Were playing great as a team and everybody is contributing." The Royals nearly came back, putting their first two runners on base against Joe Nathan in the ninth, but the closer struck out Alex Gordon, picked off pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson at second base and fanned Salvador Perez to notch his 30th save of the season. Jason Vargas surrendered four runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings for Kansas City. "Two mistake pitches, both of them in the middle of the plate," Vargas said of his two homers allowed. While Kansas City closer Greg Holland remains out due to a tight right triceps, Detroit reliever Joakim Soria is expected to be activated off the disabled list before tonights game. Soria, acquired from Texas on July 23, has been out since suffering a strained oblique on Aug. 9 annd will provide a boost to the bullpen bridge to closer Nathan.dddddddddddd. Diamondbacks at Giants - 10pm et/7pm pt (TSN2) The San Francisco Giants continue their push toward the postseason on Wednesday when they play the second of three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. San Francisco drew first blood in this series on Tuesday, as Yusmeiro Petit tossed another complete game against his former team, going the distance in the Giants 5-1 win. Petit was masterful, throwing an incredibly efficient 68 of his 84 pitches for strikes. The 29-year-old kept his pitch count low despite striking out a season high-tying nine batters. "Hes been a lift for us," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He was hitting his spots tonight." Petit (5-3) was charged with a run on four hits in his first complete game since just over a year ago. He tossed a one-hitter against the D-backs on Sept. 6, 2013. The pitching performance overshadowed a career-best 5-for-5 effort at the plate from Joe Panik. Angel Pagan went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and Buster Posey drove in two runs for San Francisco, which has won seven straight games at home and pulled within 2 1/2 games of Los Angeles for the NL West lead. The Dodgers lost to San Diego Tuesday night. San Francisco is currently first in the NL wild card standings. Panik, Pagan, Gregor Blanco and Petit accounted for all 12 Giants hits. San Francisco chased D-backs starter Wade Miley (7-11) after just two innings. Miley fell to 0-3 over his last five starts after giving up three runs on five hits and four walks. "I felt really, really good," Miley said. "Thats the most frustrating part. I felt really good in the bullpen. Just couldnt execute my fastball. Couldnt throw it close to where I wanted to throw it." Heading to the hill for the Giants on Wednesday will be righty Ryan Vogelsong, who is 8-10 with a 4.06 ERA. Vogelsong absorbed the loss last Wednesday in Colorado and looked bad in doing so, as he was rocked for eight runs and 10 hits in just five-plus innings. "Its an adventure out there," Vogelsong said. "The ball flies, especially during the day. Then every kind of bloop shot falls in because guys have to play so deep. Their infield grass is really quick, too. So it seems like a lot of ground balls get through that dont at a lot of places. Put that together and youre looking at a long day." Vogelsong has faced the D-backs 19 times (13 starts) and is 3-5 with a 4.67 ERA. Arizona, meanwhile, will counter with righty Josh Collmenter, who has won his last two decisions. Collmenter beat the San Diego Padres last Wednesday, holding them to a run and five hits over seven innings, as he improved to 10-7 to go along with a 3.81 ERA. He has allowed just two runs over his last three starts, spanning 21 2/3 innings. "Ive been able to locate, move the ball in and out and mix pitches up," Collmenter said. "Thats my game plan. Just trying to force contact. I dont want to be a guy that walks guys and gets behind in the count. Today I was a little more erratic than the last couple, but I was still able to make some pitches when I needed to and guys made some good plays for me." Collmenter is 5-1 lifetime versus the Giants with a 3.74 ERA in 16 games (5 starts). San Francisco is 9-5 this season against Arizona. ' ' '