The Toronto Blue Jays lost 6-5 to the Athletics on Monday night at Sutter Health Park, with Oakland’s baserunners taking advantage all game before Jeff McNeil delivered a walk-off infield single in the ninth.
Dylan Cease had trouble containing Athletics runners from the first inning, as outfielder Henry Bolte reached base and ran early against Toronto’s battery. Cease finished five innings with five runs allowed, four earned, to go with two walks and six strikeouts.
The pattern continued in the third. Bolte walked again and stole second, then advanced to third on a fly out. Zack Gelof followed by putting the ball in play, and a Toronto throw home arrived too late to cut down the run, extending Oakland’s lead. The Athletics finished the game with only six hits but five stolen bases, turning modest contact into a full night’s work on the bases.
Bolte added a solo home run in the fifth to make it 5-1 Athletics, a deficit that appeared to put the game away.
Toronto answered with three runs in the seventh. Kazuma Okamoto opened the inning with a 423-foot home run, his exit velocity measured at 109.8 mph. Nathan Lukes and Ernie Clement each singled, Andres Gimenez doubled home a run, and Josh Smith, pinch hitting, added a sacrifice fly to cut the margin to 5-4.
An aggressive baserunning read cost the Blue Jays a chance to build on the rally. With Gimenez on second following his double, Athletics reliever Luis Medina stepped off twice, and Gimenez broke for third on a subsequent pitch, only to be thrown out easily when Medina came home and fired to the bag.
Toronto had another chance in the eighth. Alejandro Kirk singled and Okamoto walked with two out, but Lukes grounded out against a left-hander to end the inning, with the Blue Jays lacking a right-handed bat on the bench to pinch hit in that spot.
Gimenez tied it with a home run in the top of the ninth, forcing extra pressure onto Toronto’s bullpen. Louis Varland walked Donovan Walton and allowed a leadoff single to Max Muncy in the bottom half. Alika Williams’ bunt attempt turned into an out at third after a strong defensive play by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and a lineout brought Toronto to two outs, but a walk to Bolte loaded the bases.
McNeil then chopped a 51.9 mph grounder that Gimenez fielded, but his throw to first was a beat late, scoring the winning run.
Toronto out-hit Oakland 9-6 on the night, but the Athletics’ baserunning, five steals against a battery that struggled to control the running game, proved decisive. The loss left the Blue Jays a game behind the final American League wild-card spot, a margin unchanged only because Cleveland also lost Monday.
via Bluebird Banter (SB Nation) and Yahoo Sports, Sept. 8, 2026.
