Blue Jays 7 Athletics 6
TORONTO — Yunel Escobar hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to complete the Toronto Blue Jays’ 7-6 comeback win over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.
Escobar hit his first long ball of the season off reliever Grant Balfour (0-1) after Rajai Davis, a former Athletic, hit a leadoff single.
Josh Willingham led off the 10th with his second home run of the season against reliever Jason Frasor (1-0) to give Oakland a 6-5 lead. The Blue Jays overcame an early five-run disadvantage with help from sloppy Oakland defence to tie the game 5-5 in the sixth before an announced Rogers Centre crowd of 11,077.
The A’s (1-3) scored five runs on nine hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings against left-handed starter Jo-Jo Reyes.
The relievers held firm and that allowed the Blue Jays (3-1) to tie it with a four-run sixth. One of the runs were unearned against starter Brandon McCarthy who allowed eight hits and five runs in eight innings.
Jays star Jose Bautista, who led the majors with 54 homers in 2010, was absent as he tended to what the club referred to as a family matter. He is not expected to rejoin the team until Friday in Anaheim, although there is a chance he could return earlier.
Oakland took a 3-0 lead in the third on five hits, three of them doubles.
Andy LaRoche led off with a double to left and just beat the throw to second by Travis Snider. Conor Jackson doubled with two outs for a run and Willingham singled him to third.
Mark Ellis drove a double to left, but was beat by Snider’s throw at second. However, Jays second baseman Aaron Hill had the ball pop put of his glove on the tag and David DeJesus scored the third run with an infield single to short.Oakland scored twice in the fourth as Kevin Kouzmanoff opened with a double and LaRoche singled.
Reyes walked Daric Barton and was replaced by Carlos Villanueva, who walked Jackson to load the bases before giving up a sac fly to Willingham.
Escobar bounced a single to centre in the fourth for the Blue Jays first hit and Adam Lind’s single moved him to third. He scored when Hill’s grounder forced Lind at second.
The Blue Jays scored four in the sixth, helped by one error by third baseman Kouzmanoff and one by McCarthy, to tie the game 5-5.
Davis started it with a double. Kouzmanoff was originally charged with an error on Escobar’s grounder that later was scored as a single. It put runners at the corners. Lind’s pop foul near the stands turned into a sacrifice fly after Kouzmanoff made an awkward catch and spiked the ball into the turf on his attempted throw.
Hill singled in a run and took second on the pitcher’s errant pickoff attempt. He held second on Kouzmanoff’s throwing error that allowed Juan Rivera to reach first. Edwin Encarnacion doubled in one run. Snider’s groundout scored the tying run.
Notes: Brandon Morrow will start Thursday with Class-A Dunedin in the first of an expected two minor-league rehabilitation outings. He went on the disabled list late in spring training with a mild inflammation of the flexor muscle of the right elbow. Manager John Farrell expects Morrow to throw from 50 to 55 pitches in the first start. ....Right-handed reliever Frankie Francisco also is scheduled to pitch Thursday in Dunedin as he comes back from sore biceps and chest muscles. ...Right-hander Octavio Dotel who also is in Florida could rejoin the team next week as he comes back from a strained hamstring that put him on the disabled list.