The Blue Jays continue to live by the home run this season as late-game bombs from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Marcus Semien kept their near-death playoff hopes alive on Friday.
Gurriel smashed a no-doubt grand slam to left to spearhead a six-run rally in the eighth inning, and Semien followed with a walk-off three-run shot down the left-field line in the ninth to push Toronto to a dramatic 11-10 victory against the Oakland Athletics in the opener of a critical three-game weekend series.
The come-from-behind win kept the Blue Jays (71-62) five games behind the Boston Red Sox, who defeated Cleveland 8-5 on Friday, in the fight for the second wild-card spot in the American League. The Athletics (74-61) are three games behind Boston.
“Every win is so important right now,” Semien said. “Just to be able to swing the bat and give us the win, it’s huge. It was the biggest comeback of the year. Hopefully, we can just build off this score, smaller runs tomorrow and see what happens.”
The Blue Jays found themselves down 8-2 after the Athletics scored two runs apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Even after Gurriel hit a two-out first pitch from Oakland reliever Yusmeiro Petit into the second deck to tie the game 8-8, the Athletics grabbed a lead in the ninth with a two-run homer from outfielder Mark Canha.
Canha’s homer hit the left-field foul pole off Blue Jays receiver Jordan Romano, who had not allowed a run in his previous 11 appearances.
But to lead off the ninth, Breyvic Valera singled and advanced to third on George Springer’s double to set up Semien. He smacked his career-high 34th down the left-field line against the Athletics, a team he played six seasons with before signing with Toronto last January.
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“A lot of guys were dragging their heads and dragging their bats,” Toronto starter Alek Manoah said. “He’s going out there like ‘I’m gonna win a ballgame.’ So if that tells you anything about his heart and competitiveness. He wants to win, and he never gives up on anything. So when he goes, we go.”
Teoscar Hernandez tied the game 2-2 in the fourth inning. The three homers gave the Blue Jays an AL-leading 200 for the season and a fifth walk-off win.
Blue Jays’ clubhouse in state of ‘pure happiness’
Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo described the state of the clubhouse afterwards as pure “happiness.”
“I wish you guys could see it,” he told reporters in his Zoom post-game conference.
Manoah was in the clubhouse long before his teammates authored the comeback. After giving up a two-run homer to Tony Kemp in the sixth inning for a 6-2 Oakland lead, he exited.
Oakland punished the rookie pitcher for his patch of wildness. With the game deadlocked at 2-2, Manoah opened the fifth by hitting Josh Harrison in the arm and Starling Marte in the head.
Marte stayed down as the Athletics training staff attended to the fallen centre fielder. He remained in the game and, along with Harrison, scored on Matt Olson’s double to right field.
“Whenever you hit somebody in the head, it’s pretty scary, very dangerous,” Manoah said. “I felt really bad at that moment. I had some troubles with the mound early on.”
Marte stayed in the game to score, but he was pulled to start the bottom half of the inning.
Manoah also issued three walks, two strikeouts, five hits and six runs.
Blue Jays’ Teoscar Hernandez, right, celebrates with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning against the Oakland Athletics at Rogers Centre. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press)
Oakland starter Sean Manaea pitched on six days rest because Frankie Montas had visa issues to cross the border into Canada. So Athletics manager Bob Melvin moved Montas to pitch in Manea’s spot in Detroit on Thursday.
Manaea was effective. He went seven innings, striking out nine, allowing only five hits.
With Oakland leading 6-2, young Blue Jays pitcher Nate Pearson was summoned from the bullpen. He was promoted from Triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday, where he has spent the past three months rehabbing from groin problems.
Pearson was not sharp, surrendering two more runs.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
