TORONTO – Maybe this was a springboard performance to better times, or maybe it was just a memorable ending to a really wild night amid the grind of 162. What the Toronto Blue Jays do next will ultimately decide that.
But a nearly impossible comeback in a game that went from lost to stirring to gutting to exhilarating after Marcus Semien’s walk-off three-run homer capped an unfathomable 11-10 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night sure felt like a moment.
At the beginning of a crucial seven-game stretch that may not make them, but certainly can break them, the Blue Jays emerged from their recent offensive cold spell to deliver their biggest rally of the season despite their win probability dropping all the way to 0.5 per cent.
Baseball is too unrelenting and the season too long to build up a single game. But given the stakes, the circumstances and the way things played out and this one definitely carried a little more weight.
“Yeah, I think so,” said Semien, whose second career walk-off homer gave him a career-best 34 for the year. “I mean, just being down 8-2 in the eighth inning, of course, you never think you’re out of it, but we did exactly what we needed to do to win that game. We needed a grand slam. We needed to get those guys in at the end and we actually got a homer. Baseball is a crazy game. For me, I feel like I wasn’t swinging the bat well the whole time. And sometimes you just find a little adjustment that works.”
That he did, working Sergio Romo through five pitches before turning on a centre-cut sinker at 84.8 m.p.h. that he launched high and deep to left field, triggering pandemonium at Rogers Centre. A crowd of 14,843 that had spent much of the night casting Josh Harrison as a heel before going berserk when Lourdes Gurriel Jr., hit a game-tying grand slam in the eighth inning, wet nuts again, while the Blue Jays mobbed him at home.
Semien had been 0-for-4 to that point and hadn’t looked particularly comfortable in getting there, but like his team flashed the resilience needed to ensure a night headed into moral victory territory ended in an actual victory. At 71-62, the Blue Jays can ill afford to continue their middling ways of the past month in this three-game set against the Athletics (74-61) before the four-game series at the New York Yankees that follows.
“It’s great to see the offence coming back and the way they did it, it was awesome,” said manager Charlie Montoyo. “It was a great game and it’s a boost, for sure, to come back from that far down to tie the game and then after they came back and took the lead, we did it again, it was awesome. Awesome game.”
That it finished that way came as a shock given the way things started.
The Athletics jumped Manoah out of the gate with a two-spot in the first, and after a Teoscar Hernandez two-run shot tied it in the fourth – his first homer since Aug. 18 – the game unravelled on the rookie righty in a dramatic fifth that nearly bubbled over.
Harrison half-swung at the first 2-2 fastball Manoah threw up and in, grimacing as his bat handle flicked the ball towards the A’s dugout. Manoah threw his next pitch to almost the exact same spot, this time just grazing the veteran utilityman’s left hand.
Super mad, Harrison flipped his bat, flung off his hand guard and chirped Manoah as he made his way up the line. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., tried to diffuse the situation at first base, greeting his opponent with a smile and a swipe of his hat in a don’t-be-silly-you-can’t-be-super-mad way.
Harrison wasn’t having it and kept venting, and he got even angrier when on the very next pitch, Manoah unleashed a fastball at 92.1 m.p.h. that sailed into Starling Marte’s helmet.
As the centre-fielder crumpled to the ground, several players emerged from the Athletics dugout. Manoah immediately put his hands up in a my-bad way and the umpires alertly created a barrier between the clubs, even as A’s first base coach Mike Aldrete barked at Montoyo.
“The reason I went out there is just to make sure, ‘Hey man, we’re not hitting anybody on purpose, it’s a tight game,’ and to make sure that nothing happened,” explained Montoyo. “They said a few words but I get it, people get upset when one of your players gets hit in the head. That’s fine. … The one thing about Manoah, he’s going to hit guys because he pitches inside. It’s not on purpose. We all know it’s not on purpose. But he will hit guys once in a while just because he’s not afraid to go inside. And that’s one of the reasons he’s effective because he’s not afraid.”
Once frayed emotions settled and Marte recovered to take his base, Matt Olson made Manoah pay the right way by bringing in both hit batsmen with a two-run double that broke a 2-2 tie.
Tony Kemp knocked the starter out with a two-run shot the next frame and the A’s put up another pair against Nate Pearson in a messy seventh. The game seemed to be over at that point, with Manoah surrendering a career-high six runs for the second time.
“Whenever you hit somebody in the head, it’s pretty scary, it’s very dangerous and I felt really bad the moment it left my hand,” said Manoah, who has hit 11 batters in 15 starts. “I had some troubles with the mound early on where they came out there and tried to fix it. I was just trying to run that sinker in there and I’ve had this problem for a while now, and I felt really bad that I hit him in the earhole. I’m praying that he’s going to feel a lot better.”
Marte left the game after scoring on the Olson double.
Given the Blue Jays’ offensive struggles of late, the A’s seemed to be home and cooled, as Sean Manaea cruised through seven, allowing only the Hernandez homer while striking out nine.
Then Breyvic Valera opened the eighth inning with a walk and two outs later, Guerrero singled him home. A Lou Trivino breaking ball hit Bo Bichette in the back. Hernandez walked to load the bases and after Yusmeiro Petit took over, Alejandro Kirk worked another base on balls to make it 8-4. Up came Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who ambushed a lazy middle-in cutter and sent it 421 feet out to left-centre at 107.5 m.p.h. off the bat.
In the top of the ninth, closer Jordan Romano’s 11-game run without allowing a run came to an untimely end on Mark Canha’s two-run shot. But the Blue Jays didn’t let up against Romo, as Valera opened the bottom half with a bloop single, George Springer followed with a double and Semien delivered the dagger against his former team.
“Every win is so important right now and just to be able to swing the bat there and give us the win is huge,” said Semien. “Biggest at-bat of the year for me, obviously, and I hope that we can just build off this, score some more runs (Saturday) and see what happens.”
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.
