TORONTO - Like the previous day, Sunday delivered a glorious afternoon for baseball. And like Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays brought a big crowd to its feet in the late innings of regulation with a glorious comeback that sent the game into extra innings.
When the front nine ended in a 5-5 tie, little did the fans know what was in store: a 19- inning marathon, the longest game in franchise history, finally won by the Blue Jays as the sun was setting on Jose Bautista's bases-loaded single off Rick Porcello.
Munenori Kawasaki led off the 19 th with a single and advanced to third when Porcello made a bad throw on Jose Reyes's sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk to Melky Cabrera, Bautista lined an opposite-field hit past Torii Hunter in right field, triggering a mob scene on the field and raucous cheers from the scatterlings left in the stands.
Fresh from thrilling a sellout crowd with a walkoff win against the Detroit Tigers, the Jays added a splash to their Sunday attire by donning red jerseys to commemorate something called Canada Baseball Day, and another capacity audience turned out, inspired in part by a maple-leaf cap giveaway. As well as the colourful caps, the fans got more than six hours' worth of baseball action that included just about everything except a home run.
At six hours and 36 minutes, it was the longest game in elapsed time in Blue Jays' history. It also set the club record for the longest game in innings.
Both teams squandered several chances to score in extra innings. The Jays left 24 on base, the Tigers 19.
Chad Jenkins, the last man in Toronto's bullpen, worked the final six innings, allowing seven hits and recording 10 ground-ball outs. With the bases loaded and one out in the 16th, he coaxed a 1-2-3 double-play bounder from Torii Hunter. Starting pitcher R.A. Dickey was warming up to pitch they 20th inning if needed.
Colby Rasmus made two critical and sensational catches in centre field in the late innings, once leaping against the centre-field wall, then diving to snare a liner an inning later.
The Jays won the series 2-1. All three games were decided by one run. After finishing its homestand with a 3-3 record, Toronto opens an eight-game road trip in Seattle on Monday.
Twice video reviews favoured the Jays in crucial situations. In the ninth, Anthony Gose was first called out at second on a steal attempt before a review reversed the ruling. Gose later scored the tying run.
In the 13 th, Detroit's Andrew Romine was called safe at second after apparently evading Bautista's tag during a rundown. The ruling was overturned, Romine became the second out and Casey Janssen stranded a runner at third.
Both teams used all of their position players. The Jays used all seven of their relievers and starting pitcher Marcus Stroman served as a pinch-runner for Dioner Navarro in the 10 th inning.
Their bright red shirts notwithstanding, the Jays looked drab in the early going against David Price, the most recent addition to Detroit's stable of former Cy Young winners. Entering the sixth, he had allowed two hits and held a 5-0 lead.
In the seventh inning, the Jays whipped up the sun-baked crowd of 46,126, evoking visions of Saturday's comeback. But after Toronto cut the lead to 5-4, the threat died when Jose Bautista struck out and Jose Reyes was caught trying to steal third on the pitch.
The Jays trailed 5-4 when Gose opened the ninth with a pinch-hit single off Joba Chamberlain. With Rasmus at the plate, the speedy Gose took off for second and was called out. During a video review, the crowd of 46,126 chanted 'safe, safe, safe' during replays on the scoreboard, and their zeal was rewarded when the call was reversed.
Two outs later, up stepped Jose Reyes, whose first-inning error had helped hand the Tigers three unearned runs. He lined a single to centre field, scoring Gose to tie it.
Toronto's veteran lefty, Mark Buehrle, continued his second-half descent into sub-mediocrity, failing to survive the fourth inning after yielding his ninth hit and fifth run. It didn't help that Detroit's first three runs - in the first inning - were unearned owing to Reyes booting a routine ground ball with two outs.
Price breezed through the early going, retiring 15 of 16 hitters until two were out in the sixth, when Danny Valencia smacked a double that ricocheted off Price's body for a double and Dioner Navarro followed with a two-run shot.
The Jays scored two more and knocked Price out of the game in the seventh, then ran themselves out of a gorgeous opportunity. With one out and runners at first and second, reliever Al Alburquerque struck out Bautista on a 3-2 pitch and catcher Alex Avila cut down Reyes trying to steal third.
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/08/10/toronto-blue-jays-longest-game-ends-with-win-against-detroit-tigers/
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