CHICAGO – Nothing seems to come easily for the Toronto Blue Jays, even on days when the offence lowers the boom and the runs come early and often, the way they did on a steamy Saturday on the South Side. Leads of 5-0 in the second and 8-3 in the fourth should have been plenty to fend off the Chicago White Sox without the need for multiple high-leverage outs from the bullpen. Nuh-uh. The hosts matched a club record with seven home runs, each one a solo shot, before falling 10-8, climbing within one before some add-on runs in the ninth finally pushing things out of reach.
Teams that surrender seven homers in a single game are now 3-81, according to Baseball Reference’s play index. Good or bad, the Blue Jays are rarely dull.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a game like that, that many home runs,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “You get to the point where you say, ‘Well, just sit back and whatever is going to happen is going to happen, to hell with it.’”
Of immediate concern is that Gavin Floyd, the first of five Toronto relievers needed to just barely lock this one down, left after going 2-0 to J.B. Shuck in the sixth. “I felt like it was something I needed to do,” said Floyd, who’s slated for further tests on Sunday. A trip to the disabled list sounded likely and the timeline on Brett Cecil, who was slated to come off the disabled list next Thursday, could be moved forward.
“I don’t think we can afford to wait very long (to assess Floyd), that’s for sure,” said Gibbons. “There could be something (roster move).”
Jesse Chavez took over with men on second and third and got Shuck on a grounder to second to end the threat and keep the lead at 8-5. But solo shots by Tim Anderson off Drew Storen in the seventh and Alex Avila off Jason Grilli in the eighth cut the lead to one before Edwin Encarnacion’s run-scoring double – giving him four RBIs in the game and 66 on the season – and Troy Tulowitzki’s run-scoring single.
Roberto Osuna surrendered the seventh solo shot, this one by Adam Eaton, before closing things out in the ninth for his 15th save as the Blue Jays won despite surrendering at least six home runs for the ninth time in franchise history. They’d lost the previous eight.
“That’s fun right there, two ball clubs that can really hit,” said Devon Travis, whose two-run shot was the only Blue Jays homer of the afternoon. “I like our chances in those kinds of battles.”
R.A. Dickey gave up four homers in 5.1 confounding innings of work, making White Sox hitters look silly while striking out seven but also coughing up all those dingers. He surrendered three or more homers in a start for the 10th time in his career, and won for the first time.
“I felt like I was pitching in Bizarro World there for a minute,” said Dickey. “An outing where you strike out the side and give up three home runs? I don’t know if that’s ever been done, but it’s a war of attrition and thankfully we won it.”
Still, every pitcher from starter Marcus Stroman on down will need to be much stingier Sunday in the series finale versus Chris Sale.
The Blue Jays need to perform similarly at the plate, too, as they jumped Miguel Gonzalez nearly immediately in this one, collecting five straight hits in the first, including consecutive RBI doubles by Encarnacion, Michael Saunders and Tulowitzki to open up a 3-0 lead.
“Where did all his hits come in? Right-centre, and then he dunked that one over the second baseman, that’s when you know he’s on the baseball,” Gibbons said of Encarnacion. “When he runs into trouble he comes off the ball a little bit quick, even when you saw that nice streak he was on, that’s what started it all right there. He’s not just a slugger, he’s a pretty good hitter when he allows himself to use the whole field like that.”
Travis’ two-run shot in the second put the Blue Jays up 5-0, but Dickey surrendered back-to-back-to-back homers to former teammates Brett Lawrie (an inside-the-parker) and Dioner Navarro and Shuck in the bottom half.
“Being able to hit in front of Josh Donaldson, the best hitter in baseball, they’re going to be coming after me,” said Travis, who batted in the two-hole for the second time. “So I’m doing my best to get on base and set up for the big boys.”
A Donaldson bases-loaded walk and Encarnacion two-run single in the fourth made it 8-3, but Lawrie’s second homer of the game, this one over the wall in left, ate into that immediately.
“On this day, giving up four earned runs in (5.1) innings, I felt like it was OK, but it wasn’t great,” said Dickey. “But the execution was OK.”
The White Sox kept chipping away from there but became just the third team to lose when hitting seven home runs or more in a single game. They join the 1995 and 2004 Tigers in accomplishing that dubious feat.