Blue Jays rally to beat the Red Sox in the 10th inning

By: Mike Wilner - Baseball Columnist, Toronto Star Posted: 10:32 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2022 Last Modified: 10:37 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2022

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Three things you need to know about the Blue Jays’ 6-5, 10-inning win over the Red Sox at Rogers Centre on Tuesday:

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Three things you need to know about the Blue Jays’ 6-5, 10-inning win over the Red Sox at Rogers Centre on Tuesday:

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/04/2022 (1292 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three things you need to know about the Blue Jays’ 6-5, 10-inning win over the Red Sox at Rogers Centre on Tuesday:

By George

Down to the final out in the ninth inning, the Jays’ George Springer came to the plate with a runner on second base and his team trailing by two runs.

Steve Russell - Toronto Star
Blue Jays centre-fielder George Springer gets a post-game shower, courtesy of teammates Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Santiago Espinal, to celebrate his game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. — Steve Russell - Toronto Star Blue Jays centre-fielder George Springer gets a post-game shower, courtesy of teammates Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Santiago Espinal, to celebrate his game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Red Sox, with right-hander Matt Barnes ready in the bullpen, stuck with southpaw Jake Diekman, who had given up back-to-back doubles to Raimel Tapia and Santiago Espinal to start the inning before striking out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Bradley Zimmer. Maybe the memory of Springer’s game-winning homer against Barnes last August was still fresh.

That was Springer’s 188th career home run. The no-doubter he hit off Diekman to send Tuesday’s game into extra innings and move 22,611 fans into a frenzy was his 200th.

Terrific Tapia

Raimel Tapia put together a tremendous plate appearance to win the game in the 10th, coming up with the bases loaded and one out.

With Boston having brought in a fifth infielder, the lefty slasher fell behind 0-and-2 to left-hander Matt Strahm, then fouled off four two-strike pitches before flicking the ninth pitch of the plate appearance to left field, deep enough for Bo Bichette to tag up and score.

Not his night

Yimi Garcia had been off to a terrific start in his Blue Jays career, but the roof fell in on him Tuesday in an outing that could take weeks for his numbers to recover from.

Asked to protect a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, the right-hander retired only one of the five batters he faced and, by the time he gave way to David Phelps, the Jays’ one-run lead was a three-run deficit.

The Sox went single-single-double to tie the game, a sacrifice fly gave them the lead, and a Xander Bogaerts RBI double sent Garcia to the showers.

It was the fourth blown save for a Jays reliever in the last three games as Garcia joined Adam Cimber, David Phelps and Jordan Romano.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness