Troy Tulowitzki of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a single in the eighth inning against Ross Ohlendorf of the Texas Rangers during game three of the American League Division Series on October 11, 2015 in Arlington, Texas.Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Troy Tulowitzki's left shoulder was pulsating as he sat down in the interview room following the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 victory Sunday night over the Texas Rangers.
The Blue Jays' star shortstop was connected to an electronic stimulation device that was sending electrical impulses into his shoulder that helps speed the recovery from an injury.
Every few seconds or so Tulowitzki's ice-encased shoulder would start shuttering, like the rear end of a dog emerging from a swim, from the electrical jolts he was absorbing.
Tulowitzki is still on the mend from a small crack in his scapula, a mishap he suffered back on Sept. 12 after colliding with teammate Kevin Pillar in the outfield as the two converged on a fly ball.
But the shoulder certainly appeared hale and hearty in the sixth inning Sunday night.
That's when Tulowitzki stepped to the plate and unleashed a three-run homer, the key blow in a game where the Blue Jays' playoff hopes were also jolted to life.
Facing elimination in the American League Division Series, the home run allowed the Blue Jays to exhale just a little bit, their lead in the game against the Rangers now 5-0.
The Rangers lead in the best-of-five affair has now been trimmed to 2-1 as the Blue Jays served notice they are anything but cooked in a playoff that has suddenly turned serious.
Texas manager Jeff Bannister said that nobody should be surprised that the Blue Jays did not simply throw in the towel after losing the first two games of the series last week in Toronto.
"No stretch of the imagination did we think that this was going to be a ball club that was going to do anything other than what they did [Sunday night] – show up ready to play," Bannister said.
Tulowitzki played a key role in Toronto's reversal in fortunes, along with starting pitcher Marco Estrada, who looked right at home in his first post-season start.
Estrada allowed the lone Texas run off five hits through 6.1-innings of almost picture-perfect work to get the win and bring the Blue Jays back into the series.
The right-hander said he tried to block out the notion heading into the contest that a loss would end Toronto's season.
"I wasn't really thinking about the situation," Estrada said. "Obviously I know we're down two [games], or we were. I don't want to think about it, I just kept thinking, hey, the way you thought about pitching the entire year, why not keep doing the same thing, you know."
As for Tulowitzki, the home run was his first hit of the 2015 post-season, snapping a 0-for-11 drought. And he hopes it is a sign that all the therapy he has been enduring since the shoulder injury is paying off.
"Yeah, well, you know, obviously I'm coming back early from the injury that I had," he said. "It's definitely not 100 per cent – I said that at the beginning of the series – but good enough to go, good enough to play."
And obviously good enough to help revive the Blue Jays flagging playoff hopes.