Blue Jays 4 Angels 3 (12ings)
TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays gave their fans a little extra in their final home game of the season.
Edwin Encarnacion led off the bottom of the 12th inning with his 17th homer of the season to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
The Blue Jays finished with an 11-0 record in extra-inning games at home. They became the first team to win at least 10 extra-inning games at home without a loss since 1920, when the statistic started to be kept.
“I just heard about it after the game,” said Blue Jays right-fielder Jose Bautista. “It’s an odd statistic but any time you break some sort of record you’re happy to be a part of it.”
The Blue Jays (79-77) finished with a home record of 42-39 and spit the four-game series with the Angels (85-71), who are trying to earn a post-season berth. The Angels fell to three games bask of wild-card leading Boston.
Garrett Richards (0-2) took over with one out in the bottom of the 11th and retired his only two batters in that inning, but gave up the homer to Encarnacion on a 3-2 pitch.
“I think more than anything it tells you about that group in the clubhouse,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. “They won’t stop, they won’t cash it in, they don’t quit at any point in the game. They continue to believe in themselves and we feel comfortable in extra innings I think that’s fair to say.”
Shawn Camp (5-3) pitched the top of the 12th and gave up only a walk for the win.
“We’ve had to make a lot of big pitches late in the game to extend some ball games into extra innings,” Farrell said. “But somehow we find a way to get it done. There’s been a number of different guys in those walk-offs in extras.”
It was the Blue Jays’ sixth walk-off home run and their 13th walk-off win, their most since 1987 when they also had 13.
“It’s important to believe that you can win in close games,” Farrell said. “There’s a belief that we’re not done until the final out. It creates a lot of confidence within to know that even late in the game against some of the better pitchers that we’re going to face, closers, there’s a belief that we’re not done until the final out.”
Angels starter Ervin Santana took a 3-1 lead into the seventh but Eric Thames ended his outing by leading off the inning with his 12th homer of the season.
Bobby Cassevah took over and walked Bautista, who was on base five times with three hits and two walks. First baseman Mark Trumbo was charged with an error when he couldn’t handle Adam Lind’s hard smash.
The ball bounced into centre field and Peter Bourjos threw to second where Lind was called out. Lind and Farrell argued the call.
Bautista, whose heard chants of “MVP” from the crowd all night, scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
“It feels good when your home crowd is backing you up like that,” Bautista said. “It was a bittersweet moment, it’s the last home game of the season but at the same time I felt like everybody was behind me like they have been all year long and I feel very appreciated today.”
Bautista started the game as designated hitter with Adam Loewen of Surrey, B.C., playing right field. But J.P. Arencibia batted for Loewen in the eighth and Bautista moved to right field and the Blue Jays lost the DH.
“We lost the DH for defensive purposes to get him in the game that way thinking there might be a key play that he might be involved with,” Farrell said. “It was great to see that fan support for him.”
The two runs in the seventh took Blue Jays rookie starter Henderson Alvarez off the hook for the loss. The 21-year-old, who was promoted from double-A New Hampshire in August, continued to impress in his ninth major-league start. He allowed seven hits, no walks and three runs in seven innings.
“Once again, very good stuff, a lot of strikes,” Farrell said. “He’s got the ability to put the ball in the ground and get two outs with one pitch. Once again the poise continues to shine through and he’s very talented.”
Santana allowed six hits, five walks and two runs while striking out five in six innings.
“He was trying to be a little bit too fine in some situations and it cost him a bunch of pitches,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
“We had the lead, we just couldn’t get out of that seventh inning.“
After the Blue Jays left the bases loaded in the first, the Angels took the lead with one out in the second on the sixth homer of the season for Alberto Callaspo.
Santana allowed a two-out double by Thames in the fifth. When Bautista followed with a single, the Blue Jays were even at 1-1.
The tie was short-lived and the Angels took a 3-1 lead in the sixth on a leadoff single by Erick Aybar, a triple by Howie Kendrick and a fielder’s choice by Torii Hunter.
But the Blue Jays came back again.
“We’ve been doing it all year long,” Bautista said. “It’s been fun and it was great and very clutch of Edwin to come up and hit a home run. Hopefully we can win more games in nine instead of extras. Definitely helps, we’ve done it this year, we’ve got the experience of playing tight games, close games in extra-innings. I think the experience is going to help.”