Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion (10) scores under Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos (61) during the third inning in Game 4 of baseball's American League Division Series Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.Tony Gutierrez/The Associated Press
The white rally towels were being twirled in earnest by the capacity crowd that had gathered within stinking hot Globe Life Park in advance of Monday's playoff game.
By the end of the first inning, the terrycloth giveaways meant to show support for the Texas Rangers were being utilized as crying towels.
The suspense in this American League Division Series game dissipated quickly thanks to the quick-strike capabilities of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Riding some early home-run power, the Blue Jays cruised to a surprisingly easy 8-4 victory, striking fear deep in the heart of Texas that the Rangers playoff run is dangerously close to collapsing.
The momentum is now clearly back in Toronto's corner after their second consecutive convincing outcome on the enemy's home turf, the best-of-five series now deadlocked at two games apiece.
The playoff will now shift back to Toronto for a deciding Game 5 on Wednesday, and baseball fans better start lining up those excuses to be absent from work.
The first pitch will be thrown at Rogers Centre shortly after 4 p.m. ET.
The game will feature Toronto's ramped-up right-hander Marcus Stroman going up against veteran lefty Cole Hamels of the Rangers, a rematch of Friday's epic 14-inning affair in Game 2 where Texas emerged with a 6-4 victory.
Considering the alternative that the Jays were facing heading into the two games in Texas, Toronto manager John Gibbons was elated with the turn of events.
"The fact that we're going back [for a fifth game] is everything," he said. "You know, we've been good at home all year. We didn't get those two games there, we didn't play particularly well necessarily, but that's where we're best."
The temperature at the start of the game was a sizzling 32 C. and it didn't take long for Major League Baseball's most potent offence over the course of the regular season to heat up.
The Blue Jays stroked three home runs in the contest, including two in the first inning, to sap the Rangers' spirit.
With Derek Holland on the mound for Texas, Ben Revere led off with a bunt single.
Josh Donaldson then stepped up and cranked his second homer of the playoff, an opposite-field line-drive shot to right that provided the Blue Jays with a quick 2-0 lead.
Three batters later, when Chris Colabello did the same – also displaying good opposite-field power when he drove one over the wall in right – that made it 3-0.
The assault continued into the second inning when Kevin Pillar took Holland deep once again, the home run one of three hits he had on the afternoon.
And in the third, in which Toronto tacked on three more runs to bring the score to 7-0, those rally towels could have been used to signal surrender.
The Rangers received some good news heading into the game when Adrian Beltre was felt healthy enough to be a late addition into the starting lineup, playing third base and batting third.
Beltre has not played since the first game of the series, when he had to leave early after straining his back sliding into second base.
Beltre responded by accounting for two of the Rangers 11 hits in the game, but it was not enough to counter the 12 hits Toronto managed, seven of them for extra bases.
The run support was gratifying to R.A. Dickey, the Toronto knuckleballer who got the start and cruised into the fifth inning with a 7-1 lead.
Needing just one more out to finish the inning that would have qualified him as the pitcher of record, Gibbons made the curious decision to remove Dickey from the game in favour of David Price.
Price is a starter and Toronto's ace, but Gibbons felt it was important to lock down the victory any way he could.
And with Aaron Loup not available out of the bullpen – he was not with the team after being given time off to deal with a family issue – Price was the only lefty Gibbons had at his disposal against a dominant left-handed-hitting Texas lineup.
Price would work three innings, allowing three runs off six hits, and was given credit for the victory.
Dickey, making his first postseason appearance, allowed one run off five hits over 42/3 innings of work.
Dickey was asked how he felt when Gibbons came to take the ball from his hand.
"Am I disappointed? Sure," Dickey said. "I think any competitor should be. But at the end of the day … it's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit. And we won today.
"And so we're going back to Toronto with a chance."