Power hour comes just in time
Smoak, Morales hit homers in bottom of ninth inning to give Jays third straight win
If Wednesday night was Marco Estrada’s final game on the mound for the Blue Jays, at least it was a memorable one for the right-hander.
Estrada, a potential free agent whose name has popped up in rumours before next Monday’s trade deadline, lasted five innings for the first time in more than a month. He allowed just three hits, including a two-run homer to Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien in the fifth inning.
But that homer looked like it was going to be enough for the A’s until the Jays rallied off Oakland closer Santiago Casilla in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Justin Smoak hit a game-tying two-run shot and Kendrys Morales followed with a walkoff winner.
Jays 3, A’s2, and a winning streak now at three games.
It was the sixth time the Blue Jays have produced back-to-back homers this season — Smoak and Morales have been responsible for the last three.
And better late than never, as Estrada put it.
The 34-year-old veteran pitcher, who has struggled over the past two months, lamented the way he threw the ball, particularly frustrated by four walks.
But he admitted the night was a step in the right direction.
“We won. That’s all that matters today. Believe it or not, I’m pretty excited we won,” he said.
Estrada has struggled in the first inning much of the season, and it looked like he was pitching himself into trouble again when he loaded the bases on two walks and two-out single by Yonder Alonso. But the right-hander got Ryon Healy to pop out, and escaped unscathed after 27 pitches.
Estrada steadied himself after that, retiring the next seven batters for Alonso’s fourth-inning double, then closing that inning with back-toback strikeouts. He faltered as he approached the 100-pitch mark in the fifth and, after a two-out walk to Matt Joyce, Semien hit his third home run of the season over a leaping Steve Pearce and into the Jays’ bullpen.
The Jays, meanwhile, mustered little in the way of offence against Oakland rookie Paul Blackburn, who allowed just two hits over seven innings — a leadoff single by Jose Bautista and a sixth-inning double by Josh Donaldson — in his fifth majorleague start.
Oakland could do even less against Toronto’s bullpen. Matt Dermody, Dominic Leone, Aaron Loup and Joe Biagini allowed just one walk between them in the final four innings.
And that allowed the Jays to win late. Casilla walked Donaldson to lead off the inning, Smoak hit his 28th homer to tie the game, and Morales’s long ball to right field sent the Rogers Centre into a frenzy.
The Jays, with wins in three of the first four games against Oakland, ensured their first series win at home since a late May sweep of Cincinnati.
Morales said he hopes the victory will help keep the Blue Jays in the conversation as the season comes to a close.
“Anything is possible. We’re not that far from the wild-card position,” Morales said. Toronto is 61⁄ games
2 back of Kansas city for the second wild-card berth.
Manager John Gibbons called Morales’s game-winning hit “huge” for his club.
“No doubt about that and Smoakie before that,” he said. “We were thin down in the pen. I don’t know how much further we could have gone. That’s big . . . I can’t remember the last time we had a walk-off. We got a couple of balls elevated.”