Diaz drives in Martin to give Blue Jays 8-7 walkoff victory over Orioles | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Diaz drives in Martin to give Blue Jays 8-7 walkoff victory over Orioles

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Aledmys Diaz (1) is mobbed by teammates after hitting the game-winning single scored by teammate Russell Martin, not shown, during tenth inning MLB baseball action against the Baltimore Orioles, in Toronto on Friday, July 20, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Original Publication Date July 20, 2018 - 7:26 PM

TORONTO - It has been less than two years since the Orioles and Blue Jays battled at Rogers Centre in a thrilling wild-card game that kick started Toronto's run to the American League Championship Series.

Both franchises have been on a steady slide since that 2016 post-season. If a glance at the regular-season standings isn't proof enough, the live experience on Friday night would have done the trick.

It was a matchup between two teams who have already started playing out the string in mid-July. Some late drama in Toronto's 8-7 walkoff win saved a game that featured three errors, several mental hiccups and plenty of home runs.

Aledmys Diaz drove in Russell Martin in the 10th inning for the victory. His sharp grounder deflected off the glove of third baseman Renato Nunez and shortstop Tim Beckham couldn't come up with it either.

The ball rolled into left field and Martin scored from second base for the winning run.

"You've got to have breaks in this game and we got a big one there," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "We were playing a good game and we had a nice little lead and you see it evaporate — you never feel good about that.

"That was a game we deserved to win."

Toronto reliever Tyler Clippard gave up three runs in the ninth inning as the Orioles forced the extra frame. Caleb Joseph homered before Jonathan Schoop went deep to tie it.

"Those late-inning bullpen guys — it's a tough job," Gibbons said. "Sometimes they get you, sometimes they don't."

Diaz, Martin and Randal Grichuk homered for the Blue Jays and starter Sam Gaviglio posted career highs of 7 2/3 innings pitched and eight strikeouts.

Toronto outhit Baltimore 11-10 as the Blue Jays (44-52) took the opener of the three-game series. The Blue Jays evened their home record at 25-25 on the season.

John Axford (3-1) threw a clean 10th inning for the win. Paul Fry (0-1) shouldered the loss for the Orioles, who fell to 28-70.

"We clawed our way back into it, we just couldn't get over the hump there," said Baltimore manager Buck Showalter. "Defence was a challenge and it caught up with us."

The tight scoreline and late heroics masked what was a rather tepid effort from both teams.

Some Blue Jays came to play. Devon Travis was energetic and productive, Diaz had four hits and Gaviglio was in form. Curtis Granderson played like the steady veteran he is and Martin hustled to reach base in the 10th to start the rally.

The rather impressive crowd of 31,115 was lively on a breezy, warm and comfortable summer night. The fans seemed quite into it even if some of the other players weren't.

Arguably the biggest tell that a team has checked out is when players don't run out ground balls.

Toronto's Yangervis Solarte was consistently slow out of the box but teammate Kendrys Morales provided a master class in the sixth inning.

Morales started jogging slowly to first on a roller to the right side. Once he realized Beckham had booted the ball, Morales noticeably picked up the pace and managed to reach on the error.

He was later erased after moving toward second base as Martin struck out on a full count. It was unclear whether Morales thought Martin had checked his swing or if it was simply a weak attempt at running on the pitch.

The Orioles meanwhile — now without recently traded star Manny Machado — are shadows of their former selves and played like it in the opener of the three-game series.

Baltimore is a virtual lock to finish last in the East again and Toronto is a good bet to repeat its fourth-place finish from a year ago.

Victories now will be small ones as the unofficial second half of the season starts to drag on for both clubs. It's all they have left to cling to in a campaign lost long ago.

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Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2018
The Canadian Press

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