BAUTISTA’S 3 HRS AIDS JAYS’ PLAYOFF QUEST

Toronto Passes Yanks in Wildcard Hunt

TORONTO, Sept. 26 (AP) – Jose Bautista hit three home runs and drove in five, leading the Toronto Blue Jays past the Baltimore Orioles 9-4 at Rogers Centre.  The victory moves the Jays into the lead for the final wildcard slot in the American League, pending the outcome of Seattle’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.  Toronto had been tied with the New York Yankees, but the Yankees fell to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in extra innings, giving the Blue Jays a one-game advantage over their AL East rivals.

Bautista was one of two players to hit three home runs on this day.  Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, another potential wildcard contender, homered three times in a blowout victory over the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park.

Bautista’s first home run was a one-out solo shot and came off Orioles starter Chris Tillman in the bottom of the second, giving the Jays a 1-0 lead.  Edwin Encarnacion immediately followed with a home run of his own, and Toronto led 2-0.

After Baltimore’s Ryan Flaherty tied the game in the top of the fourth with a two-run single off Toronto starter Drew Hutchison, the Blue Jays regained the lead on Ryan Goins’ fielder’s choice, which scored Dalton Pompey, who had led off with a single.

Toronto broke the game open in the sixth and Bautista was right in the middle of it.  With one out, Tillman walked Gose and Ryan Goins singled, putting runners on first and third.  Orioles manager Buck Showalter brought Evan Meek into the game, but he yielded a base hit to Jose Reyes, making the score 4-2 and leaving runners on first and second.  That brought Bautista to the plate and he belted his second home run of the game, and 38^th of the year, to make it 7-2.

Baltimore trimmed the lead to 7-4 on a triple off the bat of Alejandro de Aza and a sacrifice fly from David Lough, but Gose got a run back for the Jays in the seventh and, in the eighth, Bautista crushed a T.J. McFarland offering deep into the second deck in left field to cap the scoring.

9/26/2014, Bal14-Tor14, Rogers Centre

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Orioles           0  0  0  2  0  0  2  0  0     4  8  1     7  0

2014 Blue Jays         0  0  2  1  0  4  1  1  x     9 14  0     6  0

Orioles              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Blue Jays            AB  R  H BI   AVG

De Aza            lf  5  1  2  1  .223    Reyes             ss  5  1  2  1  .256

Lough             cf  4  0  0  1  .225     Tolleson,St      2b  0  0  0  0  .287

Markakis          rf  2  1  1  0  .263    Bautista          rf  5  3  3  5  .243

Young,D           dh  4  1  2  0  .309    Encarnacion       dh  5  1  1  1  .253

Clevenger         1b  3  0  0  0  .241    Lind              1b  3  0  1  0  .366

Johnson,Ke        3b  2  0  0  0  .185    Navarro,D         c   3  0  0  0  .269

 Paredes          ph  1  0  0  0  .190     Valencia         ph  1  0  1  0  .270

Hundley           c   4  0  0  0  .255     Pillar           pr  0  0  0  0  .286

 Joseph,C         c   0  0  0  0  .233    Pompey            lf  4  1  1  0  .152

Flaherty          ss  4  1  2  2  .183    Kawasaki          3b  4  1  1  0  .240

Schoop            2b  4  0  1  0  .191    Gose              cf  3  1  3  1  .252

                     33  4  8  4           Thole            c   0  0  0  0  .304

                                          Goins             2b  4  1  1  1  .211

                                                               37  9 14  9

Orioles                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Tillman          L 19-10         5.1  8  5  4  2  4 104  66  3.55

Meek                             0.2  2  2  2  0  0  11   6  3.33

McFarland                        2.0  4  2  2  0  0  20  15  4.73

                                 8.0 14  9  8  2  4 135  87

Blue Jays                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Hutchison        W 9-13          6.0  5  2  2  3  8  83  54  4.28

Redmond          H 7             1.0  3  2  2  1  1  27  16  2.51

Cecil                            1.0  0  0  0  0  2  20  12  1.96

McGowan                          1.0  0  0  0  0  0  11   7  2.32

                                 9.0  8  4  4  4 11 141  89

Bal: Paredes batted for Johnson,Ke in the 8th

     Paredes moved to 3b in the 8th

     Joseph,C inserted at c in the 8th

Tor: Valencia batted for Navarro,D in the 7th

     Pillar ran for Valencia in the 7th

     Pillar moved to cf in the 8th

     Thole inserted at c in the 8th

     Tolleson,St inserted at 2b in the 9th

     Goins moved to ss in the 9th

E-De Aza. 2B-Flaherty(14), Lind(28), Gose(13), Valencia(21). 3B-De Aza(14).

HR-Bautista 3(39), Encarnacion(28). RBI-De Aza(37), Lough(14),

Flaherty 2(28), Reyes(52), Bautista 5(96), Encarnacion(76), Gose(20),

Goins(15). SB-De Aza(18). CS-De Aza. K-De Aza, Lough 2, Young,D, Clevenger,

Johnson,Ke, Hundley 2, Flaherty, Schoop 2, Bautista, Pompey, Kawasaki 2.

BB-Markakis 2, Clevenger, Johnson,Ke, Lind, Gose. SF-Lough.

GWRBI: Goins

Temperature: 70, Wind: none.

Attendance: 48,910

Game Time: 2:34