Mercado hit lifts Guardians over Jays

Franmil Reyes lumbered home on Óscar Mercado’s tiebreaking, two-out single in the eighth inning and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 Sunday.

Toronto took a 3-2 lead into the eighth, but Owen Miller’s one-out homer off Tim Mayza tied it. Mayza retired José Ramírez, but Miller drove a 2-2 pitch to the left field bleachers.

Adam Cimber (4-2) relieved with two outs and allowed Reyes' single and Andrés Giménez's walk. Mercado, who was hit on the left hand by a pitch in the third, lined a 2-2 offering to centre, and Reyes slid home ahead of the throw that was cut off.

Bryan Shaw (1-0) pitched the eighth, and Emmanuel Clase worked a perfect ninth for his sixth save.

George Springer’s sacrifice fly broke a 2-all tie in the seventh. Teoscar Hernández’s bases-loaded single gave Toronto a 2-0 lead after four batters. Cleveland tied it in the third on Ramírez’s RBI triple and Miller’s sacrifice fly.

Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah, who came into the game tied for the major league lead with four wins, gave up two runs and struck out three in five innings.

The six-foot-six, 285-pound Manoah kept Cleveland’s hitters from digging in at the plate. He drilled Mercado on the left hand with a 92 m.p.h. pitch in the third to load the bases. Mercado immediately removed his batting glove and walked toward Cleveland’s dugout. He met with manager Terry Francona and a team trainer before taking first base.

Manoah worked out of the oneout jam by striking out Austin Hedges and retiring Myles Straw on a ground ball.

Manoah hit Josh Naylor on the left foot with a breaking pitch that dived sharply in the dirt during the third. He also threw a pitch to Ramírez in the first that sailed to the backstop.

Cleveland rookie Konnor Pilkington, making his first major league start, allowed two runs and struck out six in 3 2/3 innings.