ARLINGTON, Texas -- Marco Estrada took a shutout into the ninth inning, Jose Bautista hit a long, punctuating three-run homer and the Toronto Blue Jays opened their AL Division Series rematch with a 10-1 romp over the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
Jose Bautista, who had the emphatic bat flip after his tiebreaking homer in the ALDS clincher last October against the Rangers and got punched the last time the Blue Jays played in Texas in May, drove in four runs. He had an RBI single in Toronto's five-run third off All-Star left-hander Cole Hamels.
Bautista added a 425-foot blast in the ninth inning, and the Blue Jays slugger seemed to deliberately drop the bat softly near home plate after his second homer of this postseason.
Troy Tulowitzki hit a bases-loaded triple for the Blue Jays. Toronto has won four straight overall, including an 11-inning, 5-2 victory over Baltimore in the AL wild-card game Tuesday night (see full recap).
Indians ride homers to Game 1 win over Red Sox
CLEVELAND -- Francisco Lindor's homer capped Cleveland's three-homer rampage in the third inning against 22-game winner Rick Porcello, and the Indians held on for a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night in their AL Division Series opener.
Lindor, Jason Kipnis and Robert Perez went deep in the third off Porcello, who lasted 4 1/3 innings in his shortest outing this year.
Before a sea of red-towel waving, screaming fans, the Indians landed the first blow in the best-of-5 series against David Ortiz and the AL East champions.
MLB
Andrew Miller, acquired by Cleveland in a July trade for an October night like this, pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Summoned by manager Terry Francona earlier than usual, the lefty struck out Ortiz with two on to end the fifth and threw a season-high 40 pitches.
Bryan Shaw gave up a leadoff homer to Boston's Brock Holt in the eighth that made it 5-4 before Cody Allen struck out Xander Bogaerts with the tying run at third to end the inning. Boston put a runner on with two outs in the ninth but Allen fanned Dustin Pedroia on a checked-swing, his 40th pitch, for the save. Pedroia was livid, and Red Sox manager John Farrell went onto the field to question the call.
Ortiz went 1 for 4 with a double in the first game of his final postseason (see full recap).