Liriano, who has unseated R.A. Dickey as the fifth starter for the season’s final 10-game sprint, threw six shutout innings on Friday night to pace the Jays to a 9-0 rout of the New York Yankees in the opening game of Toronto’s final homestand. Now he figures to play a key role in the season’s home stretch as the Jays fight for their wild-card lives. The Jays’ regal slugger is exactly the kind of hitter who would take such an affront personally despite whatever strategic sense it might make. In the hours before the game, the Jays all wore custom-made T-shirts emblazoned with Devon Travis’s name and number on the back and a baby-face emoji on the front. Given his eighth-inning blast was just his second homer of the month, perhaps the new shoes will be sticking around.

Source: thestar September 24, 2016 02:26 UTC