Toonstruck 1 » Charlie Montoyo

TORONTO (AP) — Brian Anderson Jersey , a bench coach for the Tampa Bay Rays this season, was hired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. He succeeds John Gibbons, who was let go after the team finished 73-89.The Blue Jays will officially introduce Montoyo during a news conference Monday at Rogers Centre. He has a three-year contract with a club option for 2022.“I am extremely honored and humbled to join the Toronto Blue Jays organization,” Montoyo said in a statement. “Managing a team that represents an entire nation is incredibly special. My family and I look forward to working toward the ultimate goal of winning a championship for this city. I also want to recognize the entire Tampa Bay Rays organization for giving me the chance to start my coaching career.”The 53-year-old Montoyo, from Puerto Rico, managed the triple-A Durham Bulls from 2007-14 and spent three seasons as Tampa Bay’s third-base coach before becoming bench coach this year.“We are thrilled to announce Charlie as the new manager of the Toronto Blue Jays,” general manager Ross Atkins said in a statement. “Charlie is a highly regarded leader by so many individuals in the game and we were thoroughly impressed by his experiences and approach as we learned more about him during the interview process.”Montoyo becomes the 13th manager in Blue Jays history. He will be responsible for the development of top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is expected to join the Blue Jays in April.Before joining the parent club, Montoyo spent 18 seasons managing in the Rays’ minor league system. He won seven International League South Division titles and two Governors’ Cup championships (2009 http://www.marlinsfanproshop.com/authentic-miguel-rojas-jersey , 2013) with Durham. He also worked with the Puerto Rican team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.A second baseman who was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987, Montoyo spent 10 seasons in the minors. His only major league experience was a four-game stint with the Montreal Expos in 1993.Montoyo is the first Blue Jays manager hired by Atkins and president Mark Shapiro. The pair joined Toronto following the 2015 season, when the team made the first of consecutive AL Championship Series appearances.This year, the Blue Jays hoped to coax one more competitive season from the core of those ALCS teams. Things looked promising after a 16-12 start, but it didn’t last. A 9-19 mark in May, and injuries to key players including infielder Josh Donaldson and right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, combined to sink Toronto’s season.Expected for months, Gibbons’ departure was made official Sept. 26, hours before the final home game of the season.Gibbons went 791-787 in 11 seasons during two stints managing Toronto. The Blue Jays ended a 22-year playoff drought by winning the AL East in 2015. They followed that with a wildcard berth in 2016 Bryan Holaday Jersey , but finished with losing records in 2017 and 2018. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Chicago Cubs got nearly everything they wanted out of their day trip to Washington to face the Nationals, and Javier Baez was in the middle of nearly all of it.Reliever Pedro Strop’s hamstring injury while running the bases was a notable exception.Baez delivered the go-ahead run with a bunt single in the 10th inning as Chicago beat Washington 4-3 in a makeup of a game postponed earlier in the week. Baez, an MVP candidate, also homered and drove in three runs. He has 31 homers and leads the NL with 103 RBIs.Chicago stretched its lead in the NL Central to 1½ games over idle Milwaukee. Washington fell 8½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East.“I think that got us right back on track,” Baez said. “Everybody’s hitting the ball really good. I think we’re going to take off soon.”Strop (6-1), who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, was set to pitch the 10th after the Cubs took the lead and was allowed to bat with the bases loaded and one out. In his second at-bat of the season, he hit a sharp double-play grounder to third and pulled up while running to first.Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Strop would undergo an MRI and was unlikely to be available Friday.“Everything that happened in that game, how hard we fought to win that game? Exhilarating Brad Ziegler Jersey ,” Maddon said. “But losing him at that point, possibly or probably for a bit, takes a little bit of the exultation out of it. It’s tough. It was tough to watch him pull up.”Strop has served as Chicago’s closer since Brandon Morrow was placed on the disabled list on July 18. He is 11 of 13 in save situations in that span and has 13 saves on the season. Strop, who lowered his ERA to 2.26, had held hitters to a .180 average entering Thursday.Kris Bryant doubled with one out in the 10th against Sean Doolittle (3-3) and moved to third on ex-National Daniel Murphy’s infield single. Baez bunted just to the right of first baseman Ryan Zimmerman to score Bryant, who did not anticipate Baez’s choice.“No, which is probably why it worked,” Bryant said. “Zimmerman probably wasn’t expecting it either. I didn’t know if he was going to catch it or not. Thankfully, he didn’t because I probably was too far off the bag. We needed something to fall our way and that was certainly the play that did.”Also caught off-guard was Doolittle http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-rod-carew-jersey , who pitched a scoreless ninth before returning for the 10th.“If you had told me that I was going to get beat by Javy in extra innings, I would not have thought it would be on a bunt,” Doolittle said. “But that’s what makes him dangerous is he can beat you a number of different ways. And he put it just out of the reach of Zim. I saw it go up off his bat and I thought we had a chance to catch it, but it was just far enough over.”Randy Rosario worked a perfect 10th for his first career save.The game was a makeup of Sunday’s rainout. Washington returned home between stops in Philadelphia and Atlanta, while Chicago wedged the game in between a pair of three-game series at home. Thursday was the last remaining mutual off day for the teams, and the Cubs arrived at their hotel rooms around 4 a.m. — 12 hours before the first pitch. First baseman Anthony Rizzo boarded the flight to Washington in full uniform.Washington took the lead on Spencer Kieboom’s solo homer in the third. However, the Cubs got to Nationals starter Joe Ross in the fourth, with Baez delivering an RBI double and then scoring a batter later on Victor Caratini’s single. The Nationals tied it on Victor Robles‘ sacrifice fly in the fifth.Baez’s opposite-field homer into the Nationals’ bullpen in the sixth gave Chicago a 3-2 lead. An inning later, Trea Turner capped an 11-pitch plate appearance with an RBI double to score Robles.Ross faced major league hitters for the second time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2017 Brian Dozier Jersey , allowing two runs, four hits and two walks in five innings. Rain wiped out his first start in the second inning last Friday.Mike Montgomery allowed two runs on three hits in four innings for the Cubs, who used eight relievers.TRAINER’S ROOMCubs: OF Kyle Schwarber and the team’s starting pitchers remained in Chicago during the trip to Washington.UP NEXTCubs: Chicago heads back to Wrigley Field to open a three-game series against Cincinnati as LHP Cole Hamels (9-9, 3.71 ERA) gets the ball. Hamels is 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA since his acquisition from Texas.Nationals: RHP Max Scherzer (17-6, 2.31) starts the opener of a three-game series at Atlanta. The three-time Cy Young winner is 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 27 innings this season against the Braves.