TORONTO – Much like the Toronto Blue Jays as a whole, David Cooper and Rajai Davis have been scuffling of late.
And just like their team, they're feeling a whole lot better about things after Tuesday night.
Cooper nearly won the game in the eighth inning with a go-ahead solo shot, the first homer of his big-league career, before actually walking-off the Boston Red Sox with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning of a hard-fought 7-6 victory.
Davis, who began the night on a 3-for-23 slide, had two hits including a chopper up the middle with one out in the 10th off Matt Albers (0-1) to set the stage for Cooper. The speedster promptly stole second and third on consecutive pitches before the rookie – only in the game because Yunel Escobar was forced out after taking a pitch off the left ankle – sent a drive to deep centre that easily brought home Davis, to delight a crowd of 17,820.
Listen: Wednesday at 11 a.m. Jays manager John Farrell joins the Jeff Blair show on Sportsnet Radio the Fan 590
Cooper, who had been locked in an 0-for-11 rut himself before the homer, was mobbed by his teammates on the field and then took some good-natured ribbing from them in the clubhouse.
"Today definitely gave my confidence a little boost," he said. "I wasn't necessarily down on myself, by any means. Everyone here has confidence in themselves and their abilities to get the job done, you've just got to keep with it."
The same can be said of the Blue Jays (16-20), who ended a three-game losing streak with perhaps their most determined effort of late. They took the lead, fell behind, rallied for another edge, gave it up and eventually came out on top.
And in a refreshing change, they put an ace pitcher, this time the formidable Jon Lester, on the defensive with a disciplined approach at the plate.
"They showed a competitive spirit that was good to see," said manager John Farrell. "We've come through a rough last three games prior to tonight, we responded in a good fashion against a very good pitcher in Lester. I thought our approach with him was outstanding. They pitched backwards in some ways, a lot of off-speed, a lot of changeups, a lot of curveballs, but we didn't chase."
The news wasn't all good, as Escobar is day-to-day with a bruised ankle and will be re-evaluated Wednesday.
With Adam Lind also day-to-day and no immediate plans to make a move, the Blue Jays are down to just one bench player.
Davis also tripled in the fourth, but was caught in a rundown after Escobar missed a suicide squeeze sign in the fourth inning.
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He found some redemption by setting the stage for Cooper.
"He created that run, clearly," said Farrell.
Running on his own, Davis beat out a pitch out to swipe second on a close play and then easily took third.
"I had a good feeling I was going all the way to third," he said. "I just felt that he was going to be pretty slow to the plate, he wasn't paying me much attention so I was just able to take advantage of the opportunity he gave me."
Asked about his approach at the plate in the 10th, Davis quipped: "I was thinking homer, but he didn't give me the homer pitch. I just took the single up the middle."
Carlos Villanueva (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for his first decision of the season, helping prevent the Red Sox (17-19) from reaching.500.
Cooper earlier gave the Blue Jays their third lead of the night by turning on a 3-2 fastball from Daniel Bard. Called up when Travis Snider was demoted, he had done some extra pre-game work with hitting coach Dwayne Murphy the past few days to try and correct a small fault in his swing.
"I was coming around the ball, I wasn't staying inside it like I normally do and should, so it was causing me to be a little bit late in my contact, my contact point was too deep so I was popping everything straight up," he explained, before saying of his homer: "That's as good as it gets right there."
The edge was short-lived however, as Adrian Gonzalez took Frank Francisco's second pitch of the ninth over the wall in left field to tie the game 5-5 with his second homer of the night.
"That was a pitcher throwing to his strength against a hitter's strength and in that case you tip your hat to Gonzalez," said Farrell. "He hits the ball the other way like a right-handed pull power hitter."
All that came after Jarrod Saltalamacchia's RBI single off Marc Rzepczynski in the eighth inning knotted the game 5-5, erasing the lead J.P. Arencibia's solo shot in the sixth inning had given the Blue Jays.
Both teams by that point had ample opportunity to break the game open, but neither did, setting up the tense finish in the long, plodding affair.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the first against a shaky Lester, who walked three of his first four batters, including Edwin Encarnacion with the bases loaded to make it 1-0. Afterwards, Lester had an exchange with home plate umpire Paul Emmel and could be seen clearly shouting a profanity at him.
Run-scoring fielder's choices by Aaron Hill and Juan Rivera tacked on two more runs in the frame before the Red Sox started picking away at the lead.
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Carl Crawford's RBI single off Kyle Drabek in the second made it 3-1, David Ortiz's solo blast leading off the fourth made it a one-run game and Adrian Gonzalez's two-run drive in the fifth pushed the Red Sox ahead.
Jose Bautista's solo shot in the bottom of the fifth tied things up 4-4.
Despite two errors, the Blue Jays also produced a defensive gem in the top of the fourth when Corey Patterson threw out Carl Crawford at home to end the inning. Arencibia made a nice play to catch the ball to the right of home and then come back to block the plate with his leg.
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LIND UPRIGHT: Adam Lind did not undergo an MRI as initially planned Monday and reported "very substantial" improvement in the spasms in his lower back.
"Almost symmetric today," he quipped.
Still, a decision on his status had yet to be made and the disabled list remained a possibility. With the team carrying 13 pitchers, they can ill afford to dither for long with a further shortened bench.
Lind feels that won't be necessary and is hoping he might be ready for Friday's series opener in Minnesota.
"I'm starting to be able to walk around normal right now," said Lind. "I'm just continuing to do everything they're telling me to do and hopefully I'll be fine."
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BATTERYMATES: Catcher J.P. Arencibia caught fellow rookie Kyle Drabek for the second straight start and manager John Farrell hinted the arrangement could become a regular occurrence, especially with the team in search of additional offence.
"It gives that opportunity," Farrell said of the pairing. "I will say this, I think Jose (Molina) has done a very good job but I think we're also seeing J.P. put up consistent at-bats, whether it's been working a count deep, taking a walk on occasion or squaring a ball up. He's doing a good job on both sides of the game."
As for catching Drabek, Farrell says he sees a connection between the two.
"The thing we always monitor closely is Kyle keeping his effort-level consistent … when he maintains that consistent approach he's had outings where he's been dominant with stretches inside those games," said Farrell. "The fact that they've got some rapport, we look for that to continue to be built upon."
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SNIDER AND CECIL: Travis Snider is not first in line for a call up from triple-A Las Vegas, according to GM Alex Anthopoulos.
Although the outfielder is posting big numbers since his demotion, the Blue Jays would like to see him continue making more improvements with his swing.
Working closely with Vegas hitting coach Chad Mottola, Snider is gradually implementing a series of changes to his swing with the goal that he starts hitting the ball with more authority. Anthopoulos said the team is judging progress with his process and the quality of his contact, rather than the end result.
Snider, he added, has shown lots of "patience" with the changes.
"He knew he wasn't right," said Anthopoulos. "He knew the swing wasn't where it needed to be."
Lefty Brett Cecil, sent down to try and straighten out his mechanics and regain some lost velocity, was also showing progress, "but he's not there yet," said Anthopoulos.
Third baseman Brett Lawrie, meanwhile, continues to work on his plate discipline and on stepping into the batter's box with a game plan and approach, added Anthopoulos.
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