Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion watches the path of the ball as he scores on a throwing error by Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters on Sunday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
It all started, not so innocently enough, with a misguided fastball of 89 miles an hour that sailed over the head of a ducking Josh Donaldson, the Toronto Blue Jays batter, in the first inning.
Ezequiel Carrera was already perched on second base after a lead-off double against Baltimore Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez, whose outing was destined to be quite short.
Two pitches after Jimenez's headhunter, Donaldson stroked an opposite-field double to right that scored Carrera, and the march was on.
The Blue Jays erupted for five runs in that opening frame and, as it turned out, they would need every one of them as they won a 10-9 cliffhanger in a Sunday afternoon slugfest at Rogers Centre.
"We outlasted them," is how Toronto manager John Gibbons summed up the game.
The roof was open for a sunny day, which allowed a stiff breeze to infiltrate the stadium and turned it into a swirling cauldron that produced seven home runs – five by Baltimore, including three in the fifth inning as the Orioles pounded their way back from submission to contention.
Four of Baltimore's homers came at the expense of Aaron Sanchez, 6-1, Toronto's shell-shocked starter who exited after that rocky fifth and still qualified for the rather cheap victory.
It marked the first time in Blue Jays history that a starter has given up four long balls and still qualified for the win.
"It was just one of those days," Sanchez said. "I felt like I made good pitches out there, just one bad inning really. They were able to lift some balls up, obviously the wind was doing its thing."
The Blue Jays (35-30) won their third in a row against the Orioles (36-26) after dropping the opener of the four-game series on Thursday. And Toronto was able to make a sizable dent in the 4 1/2-game lead that Baltimore enjoyed atop the American League East standing heading into the series.
Baltimore is now tied with Boston atop the AL East, with Toronto 2 1/2 games behind. The Jays welcome the Philadelphia Phillies for a quick two-game set at Rogers Centre, beginning on Monday.
The Blue Jays jumped all over Jimenez in that first inning, tapping him for five runs off six hits, four of them for extra bases.
Kevin Pillar notched a run-scoring double along with Devon Travis, whose two-bagger brought across two more runners.
Jimenez could only manage to get one out before getting the hook from Baltimore manager Buck Showalter with Toronto leading 5-0.
It marked the first time this season the Blue Jays have chased an opposing team's starter in the first inning.
Toronto added a run in the second and another in the third on Pillar's fourth home run of the year off Baltimore reliever Vance Worley.
The score was now 7-1, a crooked number that Sanchez appeared intent on handing back.
A home run by Pedro Alvarez got Baltimore into the swing of things in the fourth.
Then in the fifth, the Orioles – who lead the majors in home runs – took Sanchez deep three more times, beginning with a leadoff shot by Adam Jones.
Chris Davis added a two-run home run with Matt Wieters knocking Baltimore's third dinger of the frame to conclude a four-run rally and trim Toronto's lead to 7-6.
Russell Martin halted the momentum in the sixth when he pelted a three-run homer that made it 10-6, but Baltimore stormed back again, scoring two in the eighth on Jones's second home run of the game, a two-run effort.
In the ninth, Gibbons called upon Jason Grilli, the recent acquisition, instead of closer Roberto Osuna, who had arm fatigue.
Grilli shut the Orioles down, but it was a nerve-wracking experience for the sold-out crowd of just more than 47,000.
A single by Manny Machado and a walk to Davis put the fans on the edge of their seats. And it was nail-biting time after a one-out walk to Wieters loaded the bases.
Then came the game's key moment when Alvarez stepped into the batter's box to face Grilli, who fell behind 2-0.
On the next pitch, Alvarez sent a shot toward Carrera, who got the start in right field in place of Jose Bautista, who continues to rest a sore thigh.
Carrera scampered quickly back and leaped up against the wall and made a great catch. Machado, tagging up at third base, scored on the sacrifice fly to cut Toronto's lead to one with the tying run now at third base.
It all became moot when Grilli gathered himself to record a three-pitch strikeout of Jonathan Schoop.