Toronto Blue Jays David Cooper, second left, is mobbed by his team in celebration of his single that brought in the winning RBI against the Chicago White Sox during eleventh inning MLB action in Toronto Monday August 13, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
August 13, 2012 - 10:29 PM
TORONTO - David Cooper drove in the winning run in the 11th inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Monday night.
Moises Sierra homered and Edwin Encarnacion also singled in a run as the Blue Jays (55-60) opened a four-game series with their second straight win.
Carlos Villanueva tied a season-high with eight strikeouts and was effective through seven innings of work by allowing just five hits and one walk.
Toronto reliever Steve Delabar (3-1), meanwhile, was dominant in two extra innings with six strikeouts that included a club-franchise four in the 10th after White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers advanced on a passed ball.
Adam Dunn homered twice for Chicago (62-52), including the longest homer of the season at Rogers Centre at 469 feet, to give him the major-league lead with 33 homers and his second multi-homer game of the season.
White Sox starter Jake Peavy went eight innings, allowing both earned runs while striking out six and walking two. His night was ruined when reliever Nate Jones gave up a full-count hit to Cooper that scored Kelly Johnson from third base.
Chicago reliever Leyson Septimo (0-2) took the loss after walking Johnson.
Sierra gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning after sending a 1-1 pitch from Peavy over the centre-field wall for his first career homer.
But after Toronto reliever Aaron Loup pitched a clean eighth, closer Casey Janssen gave up Dunn's second homer of the night on the first at-bat of the ninth to send the game to extra innings tied at two.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the third when Peavy lost control. He hit both Anthony Gose and Kelly Johnson, then gave up a single to Encarnacion that drove in Gose. Chicago limited the damage by catching Johnson in a putout on the same play to end the inning.
The lead didn't last long. Dunn responded by mashing a solo shot off the centre-field window to tie the game at one. His homer just edged a 467-foot bomb by Encarnacion against Cleveland on July 14.
Gose showed off his speed by stealing second in the fifth, but had to walk back to first after Rajai Davis was called out for interfering with Flowers' throw to second. That prompted a visit to the mound by Toronto manager John Farrell, but the long argument with home plate umpire Brian Knight amounted to nothing.
Gose stole second again on the next at-bat, but the effort was made moot when Johnson popped up to end the inning.
Notes: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 16,828. ... Star right-fielder Jose Bautista (wrist) resumed swinging off a tee, although there remains no timetable for his return. Bautista has been out of the Blue Jays' lineup since July 16. ... RHP Brendan Morrow (oblique strain, back spasms) will make two more starts in double-A New Hampshire before making a return to Toronto. ... Farrell said third baseman Brett Lawrie (oblique strain) will likely begin a minor-league assignment in single-A Dunedin by the end of the week. ... RHP Henderson Alvarez (7-9, 4.58 earned-run average) gets the start for Toronto on Tuesday. Chicago counters with left Jose Quintana (4-2, 2.78 ERA).
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012