Blue Jays get late lead to avoid sweep by Oakland Athletics

Another game, another blown lead for the Toronto Blue Jays.

But unlike the other two games of this series, the Blue Jays managed to win it despite losing the lead late in the game.

Coming into the top of the ninth inning tied 3-3, the Blue Jays got two men on base after singles by Justin Smoak and Junior Lake.

And after Devon Travis struck out looking, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player, Josh Donaldson, stepped up to the plate looking to get his team back in front.

With the count at 2 balls and 1 strike, Donaldson hit one over the third basemans head into the left field corner, allowing both runners to score easily on the double, and giving the Blue Jays a 5-3 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth closer Roberto Osuna, the one pitcher the Blue Jays can always rely on to hold leads, came in with the 2 run lead, and promptly got the save, retiring all three batters he faced (although it did take a diving play from Michael Saunders on the last out, after some miscommunication with Troy Tulowitzki).

After losing big leads in both of the first games in this three game series against the Oakland Athletics, the Blue Jays were really in need of some steady pitching.

And for a vast majority of Sundays game it seemed like they had it.

With a 3-1 lead in the 6th inning and JA Happ cruising, one could imagine that this might be the game they figured out how to hold a lead.

But in a game of quirky plays (more on that later), a batted ball off the bat of Jake Smolinski  that came back at Happ and struck his pitching arm around the elbow area seemed to bring all those hopes crashing back down to earth.

Coming into the 6th with just over 70 pitches thrown, and not giving up a hit till the first batter of the fourth inning, Happ seemed to be having a day where he might be able to go deep and lead his team to victory.

That ball off the arm seemed to affect him greatly though, as he allowed two batters to reach base with two outs, and that was it for Happ.

Out came John Gibbons, and in came Jesse Chavez, who has done a great job this year stranding inherited runners.

In this game though, Chavez wasn’t able to hold those base runners there, as he promptly served up a double into the left centre field gap off the bat of pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso, which allowed Danny Valencia and Khris Davis to score, tying the game up at 3-3.

Much of the Blue Jays offensive damage was done early in the game, with their first run coming in one of the strangest first innings ever.

With the Athletics sending out Rich Hill as the starter, in a game that many touted as Hills last start with Oakland, all that changed quickly though.

After a mere 5 pitches, Hill was forced to leave the game with a blister on his throwing hand, and ailment that has been hampering him quite a bit of late.

So with a count of 3-2 on the Jays leadoff hitter Devon Travis, in came reliever Andrew Triggs. After getting Travis to sharply line out to the left fielder Kris Davis, Triggs had an injury scare of his own.

Blue Jays third basemen Josh Donaldson lined a ball up the middle which struck the pitcher on the leg, allowing Donaldson to reach first on an infield hit.

After a break of a few minutes in which the Athletics trainers came out to the mound to make sure Triggs was alright to continue pitching, the decision was made to leave him in.

Next up to the plate was designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, who hit a ball into the left field gap, which was misplayed by the left fielder, allowing Donaldson to score easily as he was already well on his way to third at the time of the error.

The other Blue Jays runs came on some timely hitting in the top of the fourth inning, as catcher Russell Martin started things off with a double.

After Canadian Michael Saunders grounded out to shift Martin over to third with 1 out, Troy Tulowitzki stepped to the plate just looking to get a ball in the outfield to score Martin on a sacrifice fly.

He got one deep into the outfield, but far out of the reach of any outfielders as Tulowitzki slammed the ball deep over the centre field wall for a 2-run home run, continuing his recent torrid stretch at the plate since coming off the disabled list.

Next up for the Blue Jays is a 2 game series on the road against the Arizona Diamondback starting on Tuesday.