It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Toronto—just not for Jason Grilli.
The Toronto Blue Jays pitcher set a record Saturday against the New York Yankees by becoming the first reliever in franchise history to allow four home runs in one inning.
Grilli replaced Joe Biagini after the starter went seven respectable innings, allowing four hits and three runs.
Brett Gardner led off the eighth inning with a solo shot on a 1-1 count. After getting Aaron Hicks to line out and striking out Aaron Judge, Grilli gave up back-to-back-to-back homers to Matt Holliday, Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius.
The average length of the four home runs were 391 feet, according to Statcast tracking.
The only other Blue Jays pitcher to allow four homer runs in a single inning was Brett Cecil. He did it as a starter.
There have been seven Blue Jays relievers to allow three home runs in one inning, including Matt Dermody earlier this season. The others were: Brian Tallet (2010), Kerry Ligtenberg (2004), Corey Thurman (2003), Josh Towers (2003), Jim Gott (1984) and Balor Moore (1979).
Grilli had only surrendered one home run in his previous 10 appearances prior to Saturday.
The Blue Jays lost the game 7-0. They will now look for a series split on Sunday when Marcus Stroman takes the mound against Luis Severino.
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