Late power surge lifts Jays
TORONTO — If Wednesday night’s start was Marco Estrada’s last in a Blue Jays uniform, he wasn’t happy with the way he performed.
The pending free agent, who could be moved before next Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, pitched five full innings for the first time since June 24, and allowed only two runs and three hits while striking out four in Toronto’s eventual 3-2 walk-off win over the Oakland Athletics.
But Estrada also walked four batters for the sixth time in his last seven outings, and failed to earn a win for a 10th straight start.
And he had no interest in sugar-coating any of that.
“I need to get better with everything,” a sullen Estrada said after a celebratory Drake song had been turned off in an otherwise happy Toronto clubhouse. “I need to locate better . ... I think I walked four guys again and this isn’t like me. It’s frustrating. But we won and that’s all that matters.
“Believe it or not, I’m pretty excited we won.”
Justin Smoak tied the game with a two-run homer to the second deck in the ninth, and Kendrys Morales followed with a solo shot that just cleared the right-field wall as the Blue Jays rallied for their third straight victory.
Josh Donaldson started the rally with a leadoff walk off Santiago Casilla (2-5), who then allowed the back-to-back homers, spoiling a stellar start from Oakland’s rookie right-hander Paul Blackburn.
It was the sixth time this season the Blue Jays (47-54) had hit back-to-back homers. They can sweep the four-game series with a victory today.
Morales said his home-run pitch from Casilla was a fastball right down the middle.
“I wasn’t too sure [it would make it over the wall],” Morales said. “I was just trying to put the ball in the air and put a good swing on it. He made a little mistake and it went out.”
Marcus Semien homered for the Athletics (44-57).
Blackburn, in just his fifth major league start, allowed two hits, walked three and struck out three over a clinical 98-pitch nodecision.
Toronto didn’t get its second hit off Blackburn until the sixth inning — a two-out double from Donaldson on the rookie’s 82nd pitch of the game. The double was met with loud, enthusiastic cheers from the 41,984 in attendance, but the crowd quieted considerably as Smoak lined out to shortstop to end the inning.
Estrada looked to have run into trouble early, walking back-toback batters with one out in the first inning and allowing a two-out single to load the bases. He got out of the jam with a Ryon Healy popup, then retired seven straight batters before a one-out double to Yonder Alonso in the fourth.
The game turned for Estrada in the fifth as he walked Matt Joyce before allowing Semien’s two-run homer to left-field for a 2-0 Oakland lead. He walked the next batter, then got a strikeout to end the inning and his night.
“It was very big, both for himself and for the team,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said of Estrada’s start. “He gave up that two-run homer and we were down, but he’s got to be able to take something from that, I would hope.
“He’s probably still a little frustrated but we saw some good things.”
Smoak said Estrada has been instrumental to the team over the last three seasons.
“The games that he’s pitched for us, in the playoffs and tough games down the stretch, he’s been unbelievable,” he said. “He keeps us in games. You know you’re going to get five, six, maybe seven innings out of him and he’s been great to play with and play behind. He was able to do that tonight for us.”
Red Sox 4, Mariners 0
SEATTLE — When Chris Sale woke up Wednesday, he was unaware the Red Sox were on a four-game losing streak.
“I actually fell asleep before the end of it. I woke up this morning and heard the news,” Sale said of Boston’s 13-inning loss the previous night.
Sale was brilliant, pitching seven innings of three-hit ball in a 4-0 win over the Seattle Mariners that featured a home run by 20-year-old Rafael Devers, who became the youngest Boston player to hit a home run in more than 50 years.
Sale headed back to the team hotel early on Tuesday night to be rested for a day game. He didn’t know about Seattle’s two-run rally in the 13th inning, shortly after midnight. About 12 hours later, the Red Sox got exactly what they needed from their ace to avoid being swept. He struck out 11, the 14th time this season he reached double digits. Sale allowed doubles to Jean Segura and Guillermo Heredia, and a broken-bat single to Ben Gamel, but none of the three to reach base via a hit ever advanced.