TORONTO – The long ball was the primary weapon of the Toronto Blue Jays’ home opener against Detroit.
George Springer drove Danny Jansen in the winning 10th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Tigers at Rogers Center.
The Blue Jays (8-4) tied the game on a pair of sacrifice flies in the ninth inning for their first walk-off win of the season.
“It’s cool to hit home runs, but it’s huge for us tonight to walk, hit, bunt, make runs in so many other ways,” Springer said. “It’s a tough league.” The more you can do, the better.”
With Jansen on second base as the automatic runner, Kevin Kiermayer moved him to third base on a bunt. Right-hander José Cisnero came on and Springer took the first pitch up the middle to end the game.
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano (2-0) moved the top half of the inning to give Toronto their seventh victory in eight games.
“They support each other,” said Toronto manager John Schneider. “It started early in spring training and he’s been through it in his first two weeks. These guys are hungry to do it.
“They don’t care who the main character is every night. It was really cool to watch.”
Toronto hit five homers in a 9-3 victory over the Tigers at the Rogers Center on Tuesday. Detroit looked headed for victory when reliever Trey Winger took a two-run lead in the ninth.
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Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. singled, Matt Chapman was walked, and Dalton Bajo was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with nobody out.
“They believed I would end things and I let the boys down,” Wingenter said. “It was up to me.”
Lefty Chasen Shreve (0-1) faced Whit Merrifield, who drove in Guerrero on a sacrifice fly. Chapman tied the game when he homered on his pinch-hitter Alejandro Kirk flyout.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gaussmann, who had 11 strikeouts in eight innings, said:
“They feed on it. George always seems to be in the middle of it. That guy has the clutch more than anyone else.”
Nick Mutton and Kelly Carpenter hit home runs in Detroit. Mutton went deep in the fourth, and Carpenter had a two-run shot in the seventh.
Detroit (2-9) is on a six-game losing streak.
Gaussmann had 11 strikeouts, allowing 3 earned runs and 5 hits.
Schneider said, “I can’t say enough good things about Kevin tonight. ‘He was mean.'”
Chapman, who has a whopping .489 batting average this season, had twos and a one for the Blue Jays. Toronto beat Detroit he 9-6.
Detroit starter Eduardo Rodriguez allowed seven hits and one earned run in six innings. He struck out and walked the batter.
After retiring the first ten batters he faced, Gaussmann pitched one-on-one over the wall with Mutton straight in center field. It was his second home run of the season.
Toronto drew four times in a rare play.
With runners on first and second base, Merrifield hit a ground ball that Guerrero had to leap over on his way to third base. Javier Baez corralled the ball just outside the infield and threw it home, leaving Guerrero in no man’s land.
Catcher Eric Haase applied the tag, but umpire Eric Backus ruled that third baseman Ryan Kreidler made contact with Guerrero in the third. A jamming call gave Toronto an extra base to tie the game.
Chapman, the American League Player of the Week, hit a two-out single in the sixth inning. He attempted to go to third base on Balsho’s single, but was thrown out by Carpenter in left field.
Lefty Tim Mayza pitched the ninth inning for Toronto.
Guerrero played great at first base and tied the game in the 10th. He fully stretched and caught a wide and rushing throw from Beau Bichette on the slow roller.
The announced attendance was 35,300 and the game took 2 hours and 40 minutes to play.
Hall of Fame
Legendary pitcher Pedro Martinez threw Guerrero the first pitch of the game.
Wearing the number 45 Expos jersey, Martinez played alongside Guerrero’s father when he was in Montreal in the mid-1990s.
The right-hander won five titles in ERA average over his career and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Roster move
Before the game, the Tigers placed right-hander Matt Manning on the 15-day disabled list with a broken right leg.
Infielder Tyler Nevin has been recalled from Triple-A Toledo.
it’s coming
The Right Arm is slated to kick off the series finale on Thursday night.
Chris Basitt (1-1, 10.61 ERA) was planning to send Toronto to Spencer Turnbull (0-2, 13.50) for the Hills.
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This report by the Canadian Press was first published on April 12, 2023.
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© 2023 The Canadian Press
