Jeff Hoffman blanked the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth and 10th innings to help the visiting Toronto Blue Jays finish off their 7-6 comeback victory Sunday and earn a split of the rain-shortened two-game series.
Hoffman struck out back-to-back batters with the tying run on third base in the 10th inning to end the game. It marked the second time in five days that Hoffman (2-0) threw a scoreless ninth and 10th to earn a win.
In the top of the 10th, Myles Straw beat out a slow roller to third off Matt Bowman (0-1) with runners on the corners and one out to give the Blue Jays a 7-6 lead.
Ernie Clement went 4-for-5 and scored twice, Alejandro Kirk homered, doubled and drove in two runs and Andres Gimenez had two hits and scored two runs for the Blue Jays, who had lost two in a row.
Toronto starter Jose Berrios allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Ryan Mountcastle and Tyler O’Neill homered and Gunnar Henderson went 3-for-5 and scored two runs in the leadoff spot for the Orioles, who were trying to win two in a row for the first time this season.
Orioles starter Cade Povich allowed two runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one on 76 pitches.
The Blue Jays trailed 6-3 heading into the eighth before Gimenez and Kirk started the inning with doubles to cut the deficit to 6-4. Davis Schneider drove in another run with a groundout to make it 6-5, and Bo Bichette came through with a two-out single to left to tie it 6-6.
Henderson scored on a two-out wild pitch in the first to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
Kirk lined a two-strike, two-out pitch over the fence in left field in the second to tie it 1-1.
Mountcastle answered with a two-out solo home run to left in the bottom half of the second to move the Orioles back in front. Schneider, Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. delivered three straight singles to start the third and tie it 2-2.
Baltimore again regained the lead quickly when Henderson tripled to center to lead off the third and then beat the throw home on a grounder to second.
O’Neill lined a solo homer to left leading off the fourth to stretch the lead to 4-2.
Clement doubled with two outs in the sixth and came home on Straw’s single to right to cut it to 4-3.
Back-to-back errors in the sixth — by Bichette at short and Guerrero at first — allowed the Orioles to tack on two unearned runs for a 6-3 lead.
–Field Level Media
