Morales sends Jays over the moon
When Marco Estrada last won a game, the Toronto islands were above water.
It was May 27, to be precise, the last time the Jays starter picked up a W. In 10 starts since, Estrada has gone 0-5 with three no decisions.
On Wednesday, the 2016 all-star went five innings and gave up three hits, including a two-run home run by Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien in the fifth inning. A decent outing, but he did walk four.
But the Jays managed just two hits off of Oakland starter Paul Blackburn over seven innings and five hits overall.
Fortunately for Estrada and the 41,984 fans at the Rogers Centre, two of those hits came in the form of home runs in the bottom of the ninth inning as Toronto roared back to record a dramatic 3-2 walkoff victory over the reeling A’s.
Oakland manager Bob Melvin brought in right-hander Santiago Casilla to try to close the game for the A’s, but Casilla began the ninth by walking Josh Donaldson. He then gave up a two-run home run to Justin Smoak, who deposited his 28th of the season into the second deck in right. Kendrys Morales won the game in the next at-bat by slamming a moon beam just over the fence in right.
Estrada, whose two-year, $26-million contract expires after this season, is said to be one of two or three Jays on the trading block. But the way he’s pitched since May, the Jays can’t expect to get a lot for him — that is if someone is willing to take a chance on a 34-year-old finesse pitcher.