Travis scores walk-off winner as Blue Jays top Padres
TORONTO — Devon Travis scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 12th inning, as the Toronto Blue Jays came from behind to beat the San Diego Padres 7-6.
Travis scored on a wild pitch from San Diego reliever Paul Clemens, who also walked two batters in the final inning. The Blue Jays (57-44) also manufactured a run in the seventh inning aided by wildness from the San Diego bullpen, with reliever Brad Hand walking two batters and throwing two wild pitches.
Travis’s run capped a wild 12th inning. A single from Russell Martin and a double from Darwin Barney put the tying runner in scoring position with one out. Travis then worked a 14-pitch walk, after narrowly missing a walk-off home run on the 13th pitch. Jose Bautista then walked, forcing in the first run of the inning for Toronto.
Josh Donaldson hit into a fielder’s choice to tie the game again.
Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run in the top of the 12th inning off of Jesse Chavez (1-2), who ended up picking up the win. Kemp followed up Wil Myers’ twoout double with a blast to left field, the first two hits off of Chavez in his three innings of work.
Justin Smoak and Donaldson both homered for Toronto.
The Blue Jays tied the game in the seventh inning, as San Diego reliever Brad Hand walked two batters on four pitches and threw two wild pitches, allowing Martin to eventually score.
Marcus Stroman had a spotty outing, earning a no-decision. He mostly kept the Padres in check for the first five innings, although many line drives happened to find Blue Jays fielders.
In the sixth, one night after hitting a ball into the Rogers Centre’s fifth deck, Padres left-fielder Alex Dickerson hit a three-run home run to give the Padres a 4-3 lead.
Dickerson’s blast gave the Padres a home run in 24 straight games, the longest streak since 2002, when the Rangers hit a home run in a record 27 straight games.
Stroman allowed four runs and seven hits in six-and-two-thirds innings.
Melvin Upton Jr., whom the Blue Jays acquired from San Diego earlier in the day, spoke to the Toronto media before the game and was in uniform. Upton was not in the starting lineup, but pinch hit for Smoak with two runners on base and no outs in the bottom of the seventh. He hit into a fielder’s choice.
Toronto traded righthanded reliever Drew Storen and cash considerations to the Seattle Mariners for reliever Joaquin Benoit. Storen, 28, was 1-3 with 3 saves and a 6.21 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 38 relief appearances with Toronto this season. He was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays on Sunday. year of control seemed to make sense for us.”
The Blue Jays also received cash from San Diego in return for 19-year-old Hansel Rodriguez, who’s in his third season with Bluefield in the rookie-level Appalachian League.
Upton, 31, had a .256 batting average over 92 games with San Diego. He hit 16 home runs and had 45 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, a .304 on-base percentage and .439 slugging percentage.
He was available to come off the bench against his former team on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.
“He’s having a nice year,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “So we’ll think he’ll add something.”
Bautista returned Monday night after missing over five weeks of action. Michael Saunders is enjoying an impressive season in left field and Kevin Pillar is the everyday centre-fielder.
Upton said he hadn’t yet talked to Gibbons about his defined role on the team.
“He said I was going to play, that we didn’t bring you here just to have you here, that I was brought to the team to (help them) win,” Upton said. “What that might be, I don’t know. From what I understand, I’m going to be seeing a lot of lefties. I’m good with that. And whatever else he needs me to do, I’m up for it.”
Upton is particularly strong against left-handed pitchers and could be slotted in at the leadoff spot if needed. Barring injury to one of the regulars, he’ll likely be used as a late-inning replacement or when a starter needs a rest day or is moved into the designated hitter spot.
“We’re getting to that time of year where we want to be able to rotate that DH a little bit too and keep them all as fresh as possible,” Gibbons said.