Toronto Blue Jays' Luke Maile hits a walk off home run in twelfth inning American League MLB baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in Toronto on May 11, 2018.Fred Thornhill/The Canadian Press
First Luke Maile gave it away and then he swiped it back for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Maile capped an incredible night, lining a line drive over the wall in centre field off Boston reliever Brian Johnson for a two-run home run to send the Blue Jays to a joyous 5-3 12-inning walkoff victory over the Red Sox on Friday night.
It was Maile’s second home run of the contest as he drove in four of the Toronto runs on three hits to help the Blue Jays draw first blood in their three-game American League East showdown at a vibrant Rogers Centre.
For Maile, it was an exhaustive night for the backup catcher.
He also made a ghastly throwing error in the top of the fourth inning that allowed Brock Holt to scamper all the way home from first base that put the Red Sox in front 3-2.
But Maile more than made up for that gaffe, smacking his timely homer off Boston’s testy-lefty Chris Sale in the seventh inning that knotted the score at 3-3 and set the stage for his late-game heroics.
“When I made that error there in the fourth inning, I obviously felt terrible,” Maile said afterward. “It was the dumbest play of my career. Luckily it worked out. I was hoping it would.”
Sale was his usual dominant self, pitching nine innings and allowing three Toronto runs off six hits while striking out 15. And for all that he exited the game with a no-decision.
The Red Sox arrived in town with the strut of a contender after a blazing start to the 2018 season. The sputtering Blue Jays were just hoping to throw a little fire retardant along that Boston path.
The Blue Jays headed into the game on the heels of a 2-1 series setback to the Seattle Mariners, their sixth loss in their previous nine games. The Red Sox arrived in town still in a tie atop the A.L. East standing with New York despite having dropped two of three to the Yankees in their just completed series.
Aaron Sanchez got the start in Friday’s game for Toronto, looking to make amends for a less than stellar outing the last time when he went just 3.2-innings and was rocked for four runs in a 5-3 loss to Tampa.
Sanchez was better on Friday against a fearsome Boston lineup, allowing three Red Sox hits off five hits through five innings while also walking three.
His adversary, Sale, is good – and practically invincible when he pitches at Rogers Centre. He entered the contest leading all pitchers at the dome (minimum 50 career innings pitched) in opponent’s batting average (.158) and earned-run average (1.36).
Sanchez walked the first batter he faced in the first inning – Mookie Betts, and that’s never a good idea. Betts went to third on a single to right by Andrew Benintendi and then scored on a ground out by J.D. Martinez to give Boston a quick 1-0 lead.
But the Blue Jays would tie it up directly in the bottom half of the inning when Josh Donaldson singled in Teoscar Hernandez, who doubled leading off.
And that’s when Kendrys Morales got busy.
First Morales sent a fly ball to the opposite field in right leading off the second for a double, snapping a spirit-sapping 0-for-28 career high hitless slump.
Then, when Anthony Alford flew out to semi-deep right field, Morales – hardly fleet of foot – actually tagged up and made it safely to third. You could almost feel the Rogers Centre shimmy with every thunderous step.
It was a sound play and resulted in Toronto assuming a 2-1 lead when Morales scored on a single to centre by Maile.
Toronto’s defence came through in the Boston third with Hanley Ramirez on first with a two-out walk.
Martinez gave a Sanchez offering a ride and the ball just missed clearing the wall in right by just a matter of inches. Kevin Pillar pounced on the loose ball and made a solid relay to cut-off man Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Gurriel then made an even better throw to Maile at the plate and the sliding Ramirez was out.
Xander Bogaerts stroked his fourth homer leading off the fourth for Boston to tie the game, and that should have been it.
Sanchez thought he had the third out when he got Sandy Leon fishing on a low ball for strike three with Brock Holt positioned at first.
Trouble was, Maile couldn’t control the ball and then lost sight of it as it rolled just a few feet to his left.
After finally spotting the ball, Maile only compounded the problem when his rushed throw to first to get the running Leon sailed way over the head of Justin Smoak and into deep right field.
Holt was able to round the bases and score on the throwing error to give Boston a 3-2 lead.