TORONTO – Steve Pearce is just the third player in big-league history to hit two walk-off grand slams in the same season, joining Cy Williams of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1926 and Jim Presley, his former hitting coach with the Baltimore Orioles who did it with the Seattle Mariners in 1986. The Toronto Blue Jays slugger is the first player to do it in a span of four games, and he now owns half of the walk-off grand slams in franchise history, moving past George Bell and Gregg Zaun in that regard.
What he is not is a seer, even though a recent tweet from the double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, with whom Pearce spent four days in June on rehab, suggested a hint of prophecy.
Steve Pearce, about a month ago: "It sure is beautiful in NH, but I gotta get back to Toronto to hit some walk-off grannys." Direct quote. pic.twitter.com/tn1TFWknqM
— NH Fisher Cats (@FisherCats) July 27, 2017
"I don’t remember saying that," Pearce said with a grin after his grand slam capped a seven-run Blue Jays rally in an 11-10 victory that featured the club’s biggest ninth-inning comeback ever, and averted a three-game sweep. "I could have said it, I probably said it to fuel the fire or something like that. I wasn’t like, ‘I’m going to go off and hit a couple of grannies when I get up there.’"
Well, now he has, getting Liam Hendriks in the 10th inning Thursday afternoon for an 8-4 win over the Oakland Athletics, before tagging a biscuit 2-0 two-seamer from former Orioles teammate Bud Norris over the wall in left to put a happy end on what was, until the ninth, a miserable Sunday.
"I never faced him as a closer; he’s a little bit different in that aspect," Pearce said of Norris. "But I don’t like facing players I know or played with before. You try to do too much. He missed pretty bad on the first two pitches so I was able to really lock in on the next pitch."
The two homers are part of his resurgence since returning from a calf strain June 16, as he’s hit .313 (35-for-112) with six homers, 22 RBIs and seven walks in 33 games. That comes after a dismal April when he slashed .167/.211/.167 in 57 plate appearances over 17 games.
Within the vacuum of the lost season 2017 has become for the Blue Jays and ahead of a future-driven trade deadline Monday, delivering two dramatic game-winning hits in such a short span has provided a needed dose of joy.
"It definitely makes the April I went through worth it now," said Pearce. "That was tough. That wasn’t the ballplayer I am. I hope all the Toronto fans didn’t say, ‘Oh, April is Steve Pearce,’ because that’s not even close. I struggled. It happens. It’s happened before, a lot of players are going through it now. It got magnified because it was April.
"(The recent surge) makes it a little easier to sleep at night. It was very unfortunate how I started off. It stunk. It was hard to play your style of baseball when you’re constantly chasing everything, trying to create, and keeping yourself behind the 8-ball."
The Blue Jays were behind a whole bunch of 8-balls heading into that fateful bottom of the ninth after some sloppy defence helped the Angels to a five-run third off Cesar Valdez that made it a 7-1 game.
Still, for the Angels and their tire-fire bullpen, no amount of runs, apparently, is enough, as starter Jesse Chavez surrendered a three-spot in the bottom of the third and things held there while the Angels added on. They went up 10-4 in the ninth when Shane Anderson, against baseball convention, stole second with a five-run lead, took third on a Miguel Montero throwing error and scored on a Luis Valbuena sacrifice fly.
"I think what they were trying to do was add that extra run so they could bring in a different pitcher and close it down, then they wouldn’t have to use their closer," said manager John Gibbons. "I’m sure that’s what they were doing."
The Angels indeed handed the ball to Brooks Pounder for the bottom of the ninth, and he immediately walked Ryan Goins before Kevin Pillar ripped a two-run homer. Rob Refsnyder followed with a ground-rule double and manager Mike Scioscia then turned to Norris, who surrendered back-to-back singles to Ezequiel Carrera and Russell Martin, the latter a chopper to the 5-6 hole with Carrera running that forced Andrelton Simmons to throw in futility across the diamond to score a run.
After Justin Smoak grounded out to first, Kendrys Morales walked to load the bases for Pearce, who triggered bedlam in the crowd of 46,852.
"Anytime you have the tying run standing in the box is when you start to think that we can do this thing," said Pillar. "Russ’s hit was big, too, it was a great time for Zeke to run there, put the pressure on the defence, and with him being safe and Smoakie stepping into the box, you think anything is possible the way he’s been going, the type of season he’s having, he’s the right guy you want up in that situation. Fortunately with him hitting the ball on the ground, he hit a tough ball to turn two on, and that’s kind of a momentum changer, too, knowing who’s coming up next and knowing we have two more cracks at it."
Before Sunday, the Blue Jays’ biggest ninth-inning comebacks were from five runs down against the Kansas City Royals on April 27, 2003 and the Tampa Bay Rays on June 5, 2007.
"You don’t see that coming," said Gibbons. "You get to a certain point in that game and it’s survival, basically. You’re trying not to have to use certain guys in the bullpen to finish the game but we had guys who kept getting some key outs along the way where they couldn’t just blow it wide open. It was pretty fun to watch."
Among those relievers was rookie lefty Matt Dermody, who allowed only the unearned run in the top of the ninth over three innings of relief to collect his first big-league win.
"I was just trying to cover some innings and help our bullpen out and get some rest so they’re ready to pitch on days we’re ahead," said Dermody. "If you look at our lineup, you can never count those guys out, especially this past week, we’ve had three walk-off wins. They definitely smelt blood and they definitely executed."
In an often forgettable season, the Blue Jays very memorably did so.
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