TORONTO – For the first time since last Aug. 27 Casey Janssen failed to convert a save, Jose Bautista then delivered one, and eight innings and about three hours later, the Toronto Blue Jays finally ended up with the result they wanted.
The right-fielder caught Leonys Martin’s line drive with the bases loaded and threw out Lance Berkman at home to complete a remarkable 10th inning escape that was one of many to come, setting the stage for Rajai Davis’s RBI single in the 18th inning that beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 Saturday evening.
The marathon matched the longest game played in franchise history by innings, joining a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on July 28, 2005 sealed on Orlando Hudson’s base hit.
Pete Walker, now the Blue Jays pitching coach, threw three innings for the win in that one. Jason Frasor threw a scoreless 14th for Toronto, and on this day, delivered a scoreless frame for the Rangers.
The reaction as Davis’s chopper squeezed between the foul line and third baseman Jeff Baker to end things after five hours 28 minutes?
“Relief,” Davis said. “Oooh, a lot of relief. Thank God. Wow.”
Emilio Bonifacio’s one-out single in the 18th got things started off Ross Wolf, who threw 6.2 innings of relief, and advanced to third with two out on an errant pickoff throw by the right-hander. Davis triggered a mob scene on the field with his chopper.
“We deserved something good to happen,” manager John Gibbons said.
The Blue Jays, who lost 4-3 in 17 innings at San Diego seven games ago, squandered good opportunities to score in the 14th, when the first two men reached, and in the 16th, when they put runners on first and third with none out but again came up empty.
They were 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position while the Rangers went 1-for-19.
All eight Blue Jays relievers pitched in the game, including four innings from Brad Lincoln, who was optioned from triple-A Buffalo afterwards to get more help in what Gibbons described as “one of the crap parts about the game.” The corresponding move will be made Sunday, possibly for Darren Oliver, who’s due back from the disabled list.
Aaron Loup pitched the 18th and got the win. He would have come out for the 19th, but anything beyond that and it would have been infielder Andy LaRoche as the last man standing.
“I’m not going to let what happened after the game take anything away from what I did during the game,” a frustrated Lincoln said. “I kept my team in the game and we won, but the business side of it does kind of stink. I have a feeling I’ll be back soon, I’ve just got to go down there and keep doing what I’m doing and prepare.”
Janssen had nailed down 18 straight saves when he took over in the ninth with a 3-1 lead, but with one out Leonys Martin singled and David Murphy walked before a third straight pinch-hitter, A.J. Pierzynski, blooped an RBI base hit to right to make it a one-run game.
Elvis Andrus followed with a sacrifice fly to centre that tied things up.
“I didn’t execute very well as a whole,” Janssen said. “The two pitches they hit were actually two of my better executed pitches but it just wasn’t good, wasn’t sharp, and one of those days where the quality pitches I did make kind of fell in and cost me.”
Dustin McGowan, pitching in the big-leagues for the first time since Sept. 26, 2011, came on in the 10th and after walking Berkman, induced what should have been a double-play ball. Instead, third baseman Mark DeRosa bobbled it for an error, McGowan hit Nelson Cruz to load the bases, and after striking out Baker, his day was done.
Juan Perez followed him in and induced the liner from Martin that Bautista snagged and relayed home for the inning-ending double play.
“Perfect. He got rid of it quick, it was on target, and gave J.P. (Arencibia) a tag throw where he could guard himself and be able to tag him,” Janssen said of the play. “I guess I put us in that 18 innings, I wish it would have been done after nine but the bullpen pitched great, both sides, everybody pitched great.
“It’s a little more satisfying as a clubhouse when everybody grinds out there and we’re able to get a win.”
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WHERE THINGS STAND: The Blue Jays (27-34) won for the fourth time in five games before a crowd of 44,079, while the Rangers (36-25) dropped their fourth in five outings.
The Blue Jays will try to climb back to six games under .500 for the first time since April 26 in Sunday’s series finale, as Josh Johnson (0-2, 5.40) makes his second start since returning from the disabled list against Justin Grimm (5-4, 5.13).
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Blue Jays manager John Gibbons turned 51 on Saturday. Below is that start of his post-game media gathering:
Q: How are your dinner plans?
A: “Didn’t have any. No Friends.”
Q: But it’s your birthday.
A: “That doesn’t mean I have any friends.”
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DAMAGE VERSUS DARVISH: The splits for Yu Darvish don’t offer up much in terms of a potential platoon edge, but Adam Lind and Colby Rasmus demonstrated how much of a difference a couple of effective left-handed hitters can make against a dominant right-hander.
The duo combined for all five of their team’s hits against the Japanese dynamo, who coming into the day had limited right-handed hitters to .161 batting average, and lefties to a .195 clip.
The damage against him all came in the third, when Edwin Encarnacion walked for the second time with one out, Lind singled, and after a J.P. Arencibia strikeout, Rasmus ripped a triple to right-centre and scored when Jurickson Profar’s relay to third ended up in the seats.
That’s all Darvish surrendered in his seven innings, during which he walked three and struck out seven. Lind was 3-for-3 against him, while Rasmus was 2-for-3 versus Darvish.
“I got the barrel to the ball,” said Lind, who finished 4-for-7 and is now batting .342. “I’m sure some of it is luck, using the whole field … has helped keep the coaches that do the spray charts on their toes.”
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BRILLIANT BUEHRLE: Despite ending up with a no-decision, Mark Buehrle still continued to hack down his ERA, which now sits at 5.06.
The veteran left-hander was never in serious trouble, allowing multiple base-runners only twice in his seven frames, getting Lance Berkman on a pop up to first to end the third, and stranding a Craig Gentry double that came a batter after Jeff Baker’s solo shot.
“Buehrle was awesome,” manager John Gibbons said.
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MORE GREAT ESCAPES: Before tying it in the ninth, the Rangers gave the Blue Jays some nervous moments in the eighth against Steve Delabar.
Elvis Andrus singled and Jurickson Profar walked to open the frame, and each advanced a base on a one-out wild pitch by Delabar. But the set-up man settled down from there, striking out Adrian Beltre for the second out before getting Nelson Cruz on a foul pop-up chased down the line by Edwin Encarnacion.
The Rangers also had the potential go-ahead run on second or third in the 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th innings but couldn’t push him across.
