Alex Rios is making a name for himself on baseball's biggest stages.
With the memory of his impressive performance in the home run derby still fresh, the young right-fielder looks to continue his ferocious hitting at hallowed Fenway Park as the Blue Jays go for their second straight win against the Red Sox on Saturday (7:05 p.m. ET).
Alex Rios is batting .611 (11-for-18) in his last five games against the Boston Red Sox.
(Don Wright/Associated Press)
Rios, 26, has carried Toronto's offence over the first two games of the four-game series, going 6-for-10 with a homer and three doubles — two of them coming in Friday night's 6-5 Blue Jays victory.
''I'm seeing the ball good,'' said Rios. ''The first couple games, I've felt great.''
Rios also looked terrific throughout the Major League Baseball all-star festivities earlier this week in San Francisco. In Monday's home-run derby, he smacked a competition-best 12 homers in the second round before falling to Angels star Vladimir Guerrero in the final.
The following night, Rios entered the all-star game as a ninth-inning defensive replacement. With the bases loaded and two out and the American League clinging to a 5-4 lead, he caught a fly ball off the bat of Aaron Rowan to seal the victory.
Not a bad all-star debut for Rios, who was named to the AL team last year but had to bow out after coming down with a staph infection in his left leg that derailed what to that point had been a breakout season.
"I've seen him awfully good," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He may take it to a new level now that he's played in that all-star game. I think he probably enjoyed that."
Rios had also played well entering the all-star break, and is 15-for-30 during an eight-game hitting streak.
McGowan meets Matsuzaka
He's batting .611 (11-for-18) in his last five games against Boston, including a three-game set at home in May. Rios went 4-for-4 in a 9-3 defeat May 9, when the starting pitcher for the Red Sox was Daisuke Matsuzaka (10-6, 3.84 ERA), who will take the ball Saturday.
Matsuzaka is 1-1 in two starts against the Blue Jays this season, both in Toronto. He pitched well in both outings, giving up a total of three runs and eight hits over 13 innings while walking six and striking out 18.
Although the Japanese rookie right-hander won 10 games in the first half, he's looking to bounce back from a lacklustre effort at Detroit on Sunday. He yielded six runs and 10 hits in just five innings of Boston's 6-5 defeat, suffering his first loss since June 10 and snapping a personal string of six consecutive outings with two runs or fewer allowed.
"The problem was with my control," Matsuzaka said. "I felt I left a lot of my pitches in soft locations.
"I wasn't able to throw the fastball for strikes."
Friday's loss to Toronto was the fourth in five games for the Red Sox (54-35), who are 18-20 since May 30. Boston, however, owns a 10-game lead over the Blue Jays (44-45) and New York Yankees atop the AL East, and is tied with the Los Angeles Angels for the best record in the majors.
Toronto has alternated wins and losses over its last five games, and will try to break that pattern with Dustin McGowan (5-4, 4.65) on the mound. McGowan, though, has been similarly erratic lately, following a win with a loss over his previous five starts. He's allowed two runs and 12 hits over 22 innings in the three victories, but 11 runs and 16 hits in just 6 2/3 innings during the two defeats.
The right-hander was excellent in his last start July 4 at Oakland, limiting the A's to four hits and two walks over seven scoreless innings of Toronto's 10-3 victory.
McGowan has never started against the Red Sox. He's 1-0 in two scoreless relief appearances against them.
With files from the Associated Press
