Morales goes deep in extras to push Jays past Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. Kendrys Morales ditched his glasses and found his swing.

Morales connected for a pinch-hit homer in the 10th inning, sending the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Morales hit a twoout drive to right off Hansel Robles for his eighth homer. Robles (2-3) was making his Angels debut after he was claimed off waivers from the New York Mets.

The 35-year-old Morales made his major league debut with Los Angeles in 2006 and played for the Angels for six years.

“It always feels good, I don’t think it matters more or less that it was the team that signed me,” Morales said through an interpreter. “That was a good moment and I’ll take it and I’m happy for it.”

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons thinks there’s something to Morales not using the glasses he tried.

“He’s always been a good hitter. He’s always been a dangerous hitter,” Gibbons said. “I was telling somebody the other day, he got rid of his glasses. The glasses were screwing him up.”

Curtis Granderson, Aledmys Diaz and Devon Travis also homered for Toronto, which split the four-game series after dropping the first two. Diaz had two hits and scored three times.

Travis praised Gibbons for sending Morales to the plate in the 10th. “Two outs, putting Kendrys in in that situation. He’s a good hitter. That was awesome,” Travis said. “Kendrys has been swinging the bat so well really all year. You can look at his numbers and they don’t quite tell the story. I feel every time the guy goes to the box he puts the barrel on the ball, he puts up a good at-bat and just happy things have been going better in the luck department lately. That was a big one right there. He’s a guy in this locker room that gels everyone together.”