TORONTO – Coming off back-to-back losses, the Toronto Blue Jays put up some quality at-bats in the ninth inning Wednesday to earn a much-needed 3-2 walk-off win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove a pitch from Craig Kimbrel (4-2) into the wall, allowing Cavan Biggio to trot home from third base.
“These situations are like dreams as a contact hitter,” Kiner-Falefa said. “Just coming up, looking at the infield and trying to play something.”
Biggio served as a pinch runner after Justin Turner led off with a single. Kimbrel threw wide on a pickoff attempt to get Biggio into scoring position, and Alejandro Kirk moved him another 90 feet with a sacrifice fly.
This set the stage for Kiner-Falefa, who scored again in the second inning.
“If you feel good, especially in your first year with the team.” He spoke about the closing celebrations. “It meant a lot to me to get that moment as a Blue Jay. “It was really cool.”
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Turner had three hits for the Blue Jays. Toronto starter Jose Berrios pitched 6 strong innings, and already Garcia (2-0) pitched 9 clean innings to secure the victory.
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“It’s a good win,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Jose was great. “It’s just a total team effort between him and the bullpen and hitting at the right time.”
Anthony Santander homered for the Orioles, 39-21, who suffered their third loss in 13 games.
Toronto (29-32) has won six of its last nine games. The Blue Jays beat Baltimore 9-6.
Both starting pitchers settled down after allowing a run in the top of the second inning.
Santander blasted an off-speed slurp about 436 feet away from Berrios to open the scoring. It was his 12th home run of the season.
Cedric Mullins added another run on a walk, singled to second and Ramon Urias doubled.
After being down 17-3 in the first two games of the series, Toronto’s bats finally showed some life in the latter half of the frame.
Albert Suarez walked George Springer and advanced to third base on a Turner double. Kirk hit a sacrifice fly to bring Springer home and Turner scored on Kiner-Falefa’s single to center.
“I think those two runs right there were really big,” Kiner-Falefa said. “I think getting those two goals back gave us some life and allowed us to keep fighting.”
Suarez allowed two earned runs, five hits and one walk in five innings. He struck out four.
Berrios gave up two earned runs, six hits, and three walks. He struck out a pair.
“He made big throws when he needed to,” Schneider said. “That was his job all year long. A lot of quality starts with that.”
Left-hander Tim Mayza got two outs in the seventh and Chad Green closed out the inning and handled the eighth. Garcia struck out two out of three batters he faced.
“The way Yami Garcia throws, he could be the best reliever in the game right now,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.
Announced attendance was 27,929, and the game took 2 hours and 32 minutes to play.
Hartley is here
American actor Justin Hartley attended the game. He starred in the NBC drama “This is Us” and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for his work on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.”
Coming soon
Left-handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (2-5, ERA 3.66) is scheduled to start for the Blue Jays on the 3rd. The Orioles have not yet named a daytime starting pitcher.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2024.
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© 2024 The Canadian Press
