TORONTO — As is their custom at the start of every series, Boston Red Sox pitchers gathered Friday afternoon for a pregame meeting to review the scouting report on this weekend’s opponent, the Toronto Blue Jays.
There's no truth to the rumor that pitching coach Carl Willis intends to distribute hard hats, safety vests and smelling salts in anticipation of the potential damage the Blue Jays may wreak over the next three days.
The Jays, who hold a 3½-game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East, begin their final homestand of the season boasting a lineup that has three players with at least 30 home runs and 100 RBIs: Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.
That is a feat accomplished only 26 times by a team in major league history. The last team to do were the Chicago White Sox in 2006, when they had Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and Jim Thome.
Toronto is the only big-league team to have done so three times, the current troika joining Tony Batista, Carlos Delgado and Brad Fullmer in 2000, and Jose Canseco, Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green in 1998. The Red Sox have never had three 30-homer, 100-RBI players, though they’ve come close a couple of times, most recently in 2003, when Nomar Garciaparra, who had 105 RBIs that season, fell two home runs short of joining David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Only the 1977 Sox had three 30-homer men: Butch Hobson, George Scott and Jim Rice, but Scott drove in 95 runs that season, five short of the 100 RBI mark. Carl Yastrzemski just missed the 30-100 group that season, with 28 home runs and 102 RBIs, as did Carlton Fisk (26 and 102).
Encarnacion was credited with his 100th RBI Thursday night in Atlanta when he hit his 33rd home run of the season off Braves rookie Matt Wisler in the fourth inning of Atlanta’s 5-0 victory. Donaldson hit his team-leading 39th home run in the ninth, off Sugar Ray Marimon, and also leads the club in RBIs with 120.
Bautista, who like Donaldson has 18 home runs since the All-Star break, has 35 home runs, matching his total last season, and 102 RBIs.
The Red Sox took two out of three from the Jays last week in Fenway Park and have played Toronto even so far this season, splitting 16 games. They are no strangers to the Jays’ long-balling ways.
Toronto has hit 21 home runs against the Red Sox this season, one fewer than the 22 they’ve hit against the Yankees, who follow the Red Sox into Rogers Centre for a showdown series beginning Monday night.
Donaldson has four home runs and 11 RBIs against the Red Sox this season, including the first-inning blast he hit off Rick Porcello in last Monday’s 11-4 Toronto loss. Striking early has been a Donaldson staple all season: He has 13 first-inning home runs this season, more than double the number of home runs he has hit in any other inning (six home runs in the fifth).
Encarnacion and Bautista both have two home runs and 12 RBIs against the Sox, while first baseman Justin Smoak has matched Donaldson with four home runs against the Sox, including one off Porcello last week.
Porcello draws the starting assignment Friday against the Jays. His previous start in Toronto this season was a nightmare. He was knocked out after giving up seven runs in two innings, with Encarnacion, Bautista and Smoak taking him deep before he departed. For good measure, Donaldson also homered that night, off reliever Jonathan Aro.
Left-hander Wade Miley, who is scheduled to pitch Saturday, has given up two home runs to the Jays, one to Chris Colabello and the other to Donaldson, both coming in a 7-0 loss to the Jays on May 8 in Toronto. (And yes, Donaldson connected in the first.)
Miley also faced the Jays in Toronto on July 2 and came away with a 12-6 win despite walking a season-high seven batters in five innings.
The Red Sox have not announced a starter for Sunday afternoon. It could be a bullpen game or possibly left-hander Rich Hill, who wasn’t in the majors until he won his first start in six years last Sunday against the Rays. In 66 career plate appearances against Hill, the Jays have not hit a home run. But he’ll be in their sights Sunday if he gets the ball.