Late homer sinks Jays
Gregory Strong TORONTO — Pinch-hitter Hyun Soo Kim hit a two-run homer off Roberto Osuna in the ninth inning as the Baltimore Orioles came back for a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays on Wednesday at Rogers Centre.
Kim took a 3-2 pitch from the Toronto closer over the wall for his sixth homer of the season. Orioles closer Zach Britton recorded three straight outs for his 47th save in 47 opportunities.
The Blue Jays wasted a solid outing from starter Francisco Liriano, who struck out 10 batters over 6 1/3 innings.
The loss left Toronto (87-71) one game ahead of the Orioles in the race for Major League Baseball’s first wild-card spot in the American League. The teams will play the rubber game of the three-game series on Thursday night.
Toronto scratched out runs early in the game with sacrifice flies. Ezequiel Carrera opened the scoring in the first inning and Troy Tulowitzki added another run in the second.
The teams put up zeros until the eighth when Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo turned on a Jason Grilli pitch for his major leagueleading 46th homer of the season.
With Devon Travis getting another night off to rest his sore shoulder, Carrera batted in the leadoff spot and reached when first baseman Chris Davis dropped a hurried shovel toss from Orioles starter Chris Tillman.
A wide throw on a pickoff attempt allowed Carrera to scamper to third base and he scored when Edwin Encarnacion drove a ball to the warning track.
In the second inning, Tulowitzki hit a one-out double and moved to third on a Michael Saunders single. Kevin Pillar hit a fly ball into right field and Tulowitzki wisely tested Trumbo’s arm to make it 2-0.
Liriano was perfect his first time through the Baltimore order. Adam Jones was the first Oriole to reach base when he led off the fourth inning with a sharp single.
Jones advanced when Davis stroked a ball to the vacant left side with Toronto playing the shift. Liriano responded by fanning Manny Machado, Trumbo and Trey Mancini to the delight of the announced crowd of 44,668.
Liriano was pulled after giving up a one-out single to Jonathan Schoop in the seventh, allowing Matt Wieters to move to second base.
Left-hander Brett Cecil came on and fanned Reimold before getting Jones to ground out.
Liriano, who gave up six hits and a walk, trimmed his earnedrun average to 4.69 from 4.88.
In the ninth, Osuna (3-3) gave up a one-out single to Schoop and pinch-runner Michael Bourn stole second to set the stage for Kim.
Baltimore outhit Toronto 11-6. NOTES: Toronto’s Marcus Stroman (9-9, 4.34 ERA) is scheduled to start on Thursday night against fellow right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (7-12, 5.71).