Hernandez walk-off caps comeback from a seven-run deficit
The Blue Jays overcame a rough start by Ryan Borucki and a seven-run deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-9 in 12 innings at the Rogers Centre on Saturday.
Teoscar Hernandez’s second solo home run of the game led off the bottom of the 12th and sealed the deal for the Jays. It was the 26-year-old outfielder’s sixth long ball since the all-star break and first career walk-off homer.
“It feels good, really good,” Hernandez said. “It was my first one here. At first I didn’t think that it was going to go out, but thank god that it did. It was awesome.”
Toronto trailed 9-2 in the sixth inning, with the Rays doing the bulk of the damage on a pair of three-run homers by Willy Adames and Travis d’Arnaud in the second. But the self-proclaimed no-quit team carved the deficit to four in the eighth, including back-to-back solo homers by Brandon Drury and Hernandez.
In the ninth, a three-run blast to left-centre by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a second Drury solo shot forced extras.
“I feel like with our lineup we’re always in the game,” Drury said after his first career multi-homer game.
Hernandez’s winner made a loser of the Rays’ seventh pitcher of the day, Emilio Pagan, after four hours and seven minutes. It marked the sixth time in team history that the Jays have won after trailing by seven.
False start: Rays opener Andrew Kittredge and the Jays’ first two relievers, Sam Gaviglio and Wilmer Font, all worked longer than Borucki did. In his second start of the season, Borucki, who missed the first 31⁄ 2 months because of a bone spur in his elbow, needed 61 pitches to get through two frames and allowed 10 baserunners. He consistently fell behind in the
count and couldn’t harness his fastball for strikes.
“I’ve just got to get better,” Borucki said. “It’s that simple. My command’s got to get better. Everything’s just got to get better. It’s pretty self-explanatory. That’s not me.” The Jays’ bullpen, on the other hand, combined to retire 21 straight batters from the sixth inning on.
D’Arnaud’s travels: D’Arnaud — the former Blue Jays catching prospect who, along with pitcher Noah Syndergaard, went to the Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade in 2012 — is 3-for-9 with five RBIs in this series. His seven home runs and 21 RBIs in July broke the Rays record for a catcher in any calendar month. The 30-year-old was considered the 11th-best prospect in baseball at the time he was dealt by the Jays. After the Mets released him in April, he had one at-bat with the Dodgers, who flipped him to the Rays for cash.
Call for backup: Catcher Luke Maile suffered a left oblique strain during early batting practice on Saturday and was placed on the 10-day injured list less than an hour before Sunday’s first pitch. Catcher Reese McGuire was called up from Triple-A Buffalo, where he was hitting .247 with five homers and 29 RBIs in 72 games.
Up next: Right-hander Aaron Sanchez (3-14, 6.06), who has lost his last 13 decisions, will face one of the Rays’ two healthy full-time starters, Yonny Chirinos (8-5, 3.29), in a 1:07 p.m. start.