Associated Press
Associated Press
TORONTO — Blue Jays outfielder Rajai Davis didn’t expect to put in a full day’s work when he came on as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning.
Three hours and 10 innings later, he sent his team home happy by delivering the winning hit.
Davis drove in Emilio Bonifacio with a two-out single in the 18th inning and Toronto beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 Saturday in a game that matched the longest in club history for both teams.
“Considering I got in in the eighth and still played a full game, it’s pretty remarkable,” Davis said. “I think it’s the longest game of my career.”
The game lasted 5 hours, 28 minutes, making it 3 hours, 20 minutes longer than Friday’s meeting between the teams. Texas equaled a season high with its third straight loss.
Having just stood up for a rare 17th inning stretch, only a small fraction of the crowd of 44,079 remained when Bonifacio hit a one-out single in the 18th and took third with two outs on a wild pickoff throw by Ross Wolf (1-1).
Davis followed with a bouncing single down the third base line, sending the Blue Jays streaming out of their dugout in celebration and ending a game that started under sunny skies but finished with the stadium lights on.
“Relief, a lot of relief,” Davis said when asked to describe his emotions. “Thank God, wow.”
Wolf (1-1) was Texas’ fifth pitcher and worked 6 2-3 innings, almost as many as starter Yu Darvish, who went seven.
“He did an outstanding job,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Wolf. “That’s the prototype for what a long man is supposed to do.”
Aaron Loup (3-3), the ninth Toronto pitcher, went one inning for the win. With his bullpen empty, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said infielder Andy LaRoche would have been called on to pitch if the game had lasted much longer.
Brad Lincoln, who pitched a career-high four scoreless innings for Toronto, was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo after the game. The Blue Jays will call up another reliever on Sunday.
“I kept my team in the game and we won, but the business side of it does kind of stink,” Lincoln said of his demotion.
This was the third time in seven games the Blue Jays have gone to extra innings. They lost a 17-inning game at San Diego on May 31 but beat the Padres in 11 innings on June 2.
Adam Lind had four hits as the Blue Jays won their third straight and fourth of five.
YANKEES 3, MARINERS 1
SEATTLE — Andy Pettitte allowed three hits over 7 1-3 innings to earn his 250th career victory to lead the Yankees past the Mariners.
It was Pettitte’s 213th victory as Yankee, putting him third on the franchise’s career list behind Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231).
Pettitte (5-3) had six strikeouts and no walks in his 85-pitch effort. He has 1,940 strikeouts as a Yankee, 16 behind all-time leader Ford.
David Robinson worked out of a jam in the eighth and Mariano Rivera took over in the ninth, earning his 630th career save, adding to his major league record.
Jayson Nix had a pair of RBI singles and Brett Gardner had three hits, including two doubles.
The Yankees scored a two-out run off Joe Saunders (4-6) in the first inning.
ANGELS 9, RED SOX 5, 1ST GAME
RED SOX 7, ANGELS 2, 2ND GAME
BOSTON — David Ortiz rebounded from a rough first game with a long two-run homer and drove in three runs to help Clay Buchholz improve to 9-0, earning the Boston Red Sox a split of a day-night doubleheader.
The victory snapped Boston’s nine-game losing streak against Los Angeles.
Buchholz gave up two runs on six hits, striking out four and walking one over 6 2-3 innings to match Arizona’s Patrick Corbin (9-0) as the majors’ only unbeaten pitcher with at least nine wins, but he left in the seventh with what the team called “neck tightness.”
The Red Sox jumped ahead 2-0 against C.J. Wilson (4-5) with two runs in the first on consecutive RBI doubles by Jonny Gomes and Pedroia. Ortiz’s RBI double made it 3-0 in the second.
In the first game, Mark Trumbo and Erick Aybar each drove in two runs as the Angels beat the Red Sox 9-5 for their team-record sixth straight win at Fenway Park.
Mike Trout added a pair of doubles high off the Green Monster and collected three hits for the Angels. Tommy Hanson (3-2) allowed two runs in five innings for the win.
Ortiz went 0 for 5, struck out twice and stranded six runners, and Felix Doubront (4-3) gave up three runs and six hits over six innings.
WHITE SOX 4, ATHLETICS 1
CHICAGO — John Danks pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for his first victory in more than a year, and the White Sox won for just the second time in 12 games.
Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko homered. Alex Rios drove in the go-ahead run, and the White Sox handed the Athletics just their fourth loss in 22 games.
Dunn connected leading off the second to tie the score at 1-all, and it stayed that way until the eighth.
Alejandro De Aza led off with an infield single against Sean Doolittle (3-1) and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Alexei Ramirez before Rios broke the tie with a single to center. Konerko followed with a two-run drive to left to cap the rally.
That made a winner of Danks (1-2), who struck out six and walked one. Addison Reed worked a scoreless ninth for his 18th save in 19 chances.
RAYS 8, ORIOLES 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jeremy Hellickson pitched six scoreless innings and six different Tampa Bay players drove in runs.
Taking up where they left off in allowing just two hits in a 2-1 victory in the opener of a three-game series at Tropicana Field, Rays pitchers limited the Orioles to four singles to beat their AL East rivals for the fifth straight time.
Hellickson (4-2) worked through a fifth-inning jam before watching the Rays break it open with five runs in the bottom half of the inning, three on Luke Scott’s bases-loaded double. The Tampa Bay starter and three relievers combined to retire the last 15 batters to finish the combined four-hitter.
Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, Yunel Escobar, James Loney and Jose Lobaton also drove in runs for the Rays, who roughed up rookie Kevin Gausman (0-3) in his fourth major league start.
TIGERS 6, INDIANS 4
DETROIT — Prince Fielder hit a bases-clearing double in the second inning and Detroit held on to beat Cleveland.
The AL Central-leading Tigers have won the first two games of the series to build a season-high 4½-game lead over the Indians.
Rick Porcello (3-3) gave up two runs — one earned — and three hits while striking out seven over six innings.
Ryan Raburn hit a two-run homer off reliever Luke Putkonen to pull the Indians within two runs in the seventh inning and they had a shot to at least get even in the ninth.
After Phil Coke pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief, Jose Valverde pitched a shaky ninth for his eighth save in 10 opportunities.
Carlos Carrasco (1-1) gave up six runs and 10 hits over four-plus innings in what might be his last start for a while.
ROYALS 7, ASTROS 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ervin Santana pitched seven snappy innings and Kansas City finally backed him up with some offense.
Santana (4-5) entered the game with the worst run support among qualifying pitchers in the American League, a big reason why he already had six fruitless tries to win his 100th career game.
He finally reached the milestone thanks to a seemingly endless series of singles and doubles off Astros starter Erik Bedard (1-3), who failed to make it through the fifth inning.
Meanwhile, Santana allowed five hits in seven innings, striking out six without a walk. The only damage he allowed came on an RBI single by Jose Altuve and a solo homer by Chris Carter.
Lorenzo Cain had a pair of RBIs to lead the Royals.