Blue Jays storm back from down six for much-needed win in extras over Red Sox

TORONTO — There are so many fires raging around the Toronto Blue Jays right now that they needed a night like this. 

During their run of eight losses in nine outings — a slide that ended dramatically Wednesday when a season-high three home runs fuelled a rally from a six-run deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-6 in 10 innings — they managed a mere 17 runs and hadn’t scored more than four since a six-spot against Atlanta on April 15.

At the same time their pitching staff, undermined by the lack of a steady fifth starter in Max Scherzer’s continuing absence and taxed by some short starts, is suddenly knee-deep in churn, with Jay for a Day Casey Lawrence designated for assignment Wednesday to clear space for lefty Eric Lauer.

Add in a setback for Erik Swanson, who experienced forearm tightness just as he was slated to begin a rehab assignment Tuesday and was due to arrive in Toronto for further testing, and the Blue Jays’ already alarmingly thin pitching depth is even more threadbare.

Given all that, they were a team in desperate need of a spark through 5 ½ innings trailing 6-0, unable to do much against Lucas Giolito in his first outing in the majors since Oct. 1 2023, the right-hander an out away from six shutout innings. And then they got one when George Springer fought back from down 0-2 to work a walk, leading to back-to-back home runs from Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk, who after Anthony Santander’s tying three-run homer in the seventh, won it in the 10^th with a laser beam bases-loaded single.

On the verge of sinking deeper into their funk before a crowd of 26,498, the Blue Jays instead found a way to break out of it.

“When you're grinding and when you want something to happen, usually the hardest thing to do is take the 3-2 pitch that's kind of borderline and just pass the baton. That is probably the most underrated plate appearance of the night to allow Varsh to come up and hit the homer,” manager John Schneider said of Springer’s walk. “Georgie has been so good and so consistent, not only this year, but his whole career, and I think that really got us going. One home run is nice. And then Kirky's swing gives you a little bit of momentum. That plate appearance gets lost in the course of the game when a lot of good stuff happened. But that's just a veteran guy slowing the situation down.”

For nearly two weeks, things seem to have been constantly speeding up on the Blue Jays, in multiple ways, and Tuesday’s 10-2 blitzing by the Red Sox left them winging their pitching plans.

Yariel Rodriguez was called upon to open a bullpen game necessitated by the lack of a fifth starter and was erratic immediately. He walked Jarren Duran to open a 29-pitch first, gave up a double to Rafael Devers on which Duran was thrown out at home, and then threw a wild pitch and balked to score Devers before Alex Bregman followed with a solo shot that made it 2-0.

Lauer had been slated to start for triple-A Buffalo at Iowa but instead boarded a 6:30 a.m. flight to Detroit for a connection to Toronto after the Blue Jays selected his contract, locking in a pro-rated portion of his $2.2-million big-league salary. The 29-year-old last pitched in the majors Sept. 30, 2023 and took the mound in the second amped, allowing two runs in a 35-pitch second inning before stabilizing the game with three shutout innings after that.

“I haven't been in the big-leagues for a year,” said Lauer, “so it was just a matter of getting my feet back under me and toning down that amped-upness and that excitement and locking into what I do.”

It all seemed for naught as Giolito, coming off a shaky rehab, flummoxed the Blue Jays for five innings — with hitting coach David Popkins getting ejected in the process — before Carlos Narvaez hit a two-run homer off Chad Green in the top of the sixth to open up the 6-0 lead.

Then came the Springer walk and suddenly everything flipped.

Varsho clubbed a changeup 403 feet to right for his first home run of the season and Kirk followed up by sending another changeup 424 feet to left. It was the first time this season the team had gotten back-to-back homers and just the second time they went deep more than once in a game.

“Any walk creates a little bit of momentum, especially in that situation,” said Varsho. “Then when somebody puts a good swing on something, the person on deck, even the guy in the hole, it's like, oh, I can do the same thing. So it's having confidence going up there instead of a guy shoving and it's like, man, this guy's on one tonight not having that confidence.”

The Blue Jays carried that confidence into the seventh against Garrett Whitlock, when singles by Ernie Clement and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. preceded the tying home run by Santander, who’s now gone deep in two of his last three games after a sluggish first month.

“It means a lot,” he said of the rally. “It's good momentum.”

Finally in the 10^th, after consecutive shutout innings from Jeff Hoffman, the Blue Jays caught a break, as Santander lined to centre leading off the frame and Guerrero, the runner at second, saw Ceddanne Rafaela make the catch nonchalantly and dashed for third.

Rafaela’s throw hit Guerrero as he slid into the bag, allowing him to reach safely, which prompted the Red Sox to intentionally walk both Springer and Varsho.

Kirk then lined a ball to left-centre off Justin Slaten to cap the madcap victory.

“That was a big win for us,” said Varsho. “For us to be able to start moving in the right direction, obviously we had a rough stretch here, but knowing we can come back from a deficit like that and be able to fight back was really huge for everybody in the lineup.”

One comeback win, exciting as it was, won’t solve all of the Blue Jays’ problems, of course, but perhaps it does give them something to build upon, particularly at the plate.

“It's what we've been missing,” Schneider said of the power outburst. “And it feels great.”

Less great is the continued uncertainty about what happens with the vacant rotation spot, which is due to come up twice during the upcoming road trip if the Blue Jays stay on turn. Schneider again said the club is “trying to avoid really overtaxing the rest of the starters,” which indicates they won’t use the off-day to skip one of those starts.

As such, they won’t be able to run bullpen days again, although Schneider wasn’t ready to commit to Lauer, noting “that's why you have depth. Between him or (Easton) Lucas or (Jake) Bloss, you kind of figure it out between those guys. … He could definitely step in.”

Lauer, who logged a career high 158.2 innings for Milwaukee in 2022 before arm issues interrupted his career, is on the staff to stay for the time being and while he described himself as “a pretty malleable guy,” he also said, “I like starting.”

“That's where I feel like I have the most feel for the game,” he added. “Hopefully I can get back to that, but I'm here to help the team any way I can.”

After a week-and-a-half of bad results, Lauer was one of several Blue Jays on Wednesday night to do just that.