Ejections put some life into Blue Jays’ offence

“It’s an emotional game and there were some balls and strikes that was questionable, but that’s part of the game,” Hale said. “It got to a point where something was said and it escalated. That’s the gist of it really.”

It was not just Stroman that was questioning some of the strike calls by Little. Oakland hitters were constantly looking over their shoulders on strikes, but it was Stroman, who was only able to manage 52 strikes in 100 pitches, and Gibbons who finally could not hold their emotions.

“Both sides probably had some issues today, but certainly they (Jays) took more exception,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “(Little is) a good guy, works hard, he’s a young umpire . . . it is what it is.”

Little ejected Melvin and second baseman Jed Lowrie from a game in late May for arguing balls and strikes.

The fifth-inning brouhaha seemed to spark the Jays, who were trailing 3-1 at the time. Morales led off the bottom of the fifth by crushing a home run into the Flight Deck on the first pitch he saw. In the sixth inning, the Jays tied it on a soft line drive to centre field by Smoak that scored Jose Bautista. Josh Donaldson had opened the Jays scoring in the first with a homer into the bullpen in left.

The Jays had a chance to take the lead in the seventh, but third-base coach Luis Rivera waved Troy Tulowitzki on a single to right with two outs. He was out at the plate.

The A’s scored a run against Ryan Tepera in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead, with Marcus Semien delivering a single to left field that drove in Jaycob Brugman. Tepera had faced 25 batters over six appearances without a hit until Brugman delivered a one-out single in the eighth.

Roberto Osuna, who pitched a scoreless 10th, picked up the win.