Tyler Heineman’s walk-up music was already playing over the Rogers Centre speakers, but with Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks still blaring throughout the stadium, Kirk stepped in to face Detroit Tigers reliever Will Vest while Heineman retreated to the dugout. After working the count full, Kirk fouled off two pitches then shot the ninth pitch of the at-bat into right field for a single to score Ernie Clement and tie the game 1-1.
Jeff Hoffman kept the game tied with a scoreless ninth thanks to an outfield assist from Nathan Lukes that doubled up Gleyber Torres trying to advance to second on a fly-out and Clement walked it off with an opposite-field single in the bottom of the ninth.
With that, the Blue Jays beat the Tigers 2-1 to even the series at a game apiece and improve to 22-23 on the season in front of 40,171 fans at Rogers Centre, many thousands of whom were wearing pink for Barbie Day.
Thanks to Kirk and Clement, the Blue Jays got just enough offence on a day Anthony Santander was out of the starting lineup with a hip issue. But it was the pitching staff that deserves most of the credit in this one, as six Blue Jays combined to limit the Tigers to just one run on four hits.
First, starter Eric Lauer limited the Tigers to one run — a Spencer Torkelson solo shot — over three innings while striking out five, including the last three batters he faced.
From there, the Blue Jays turned it over to the bullpen, and relievers Yariel Rodriguez, Brendon Little, Chad Green and Yimi Garcia each kept the Tigers from adding to their narrow lead. Finally, Hoffman pitched a clean ninth to preserve the 1-1 tie and set up Clement’s big hit.
It’s not the kind of workload any manager wants to impose upon a bullpen regularly, but with Max Scherzer still on the injured list, the Blue Jays have been figuring out their fifth rotation spot on the go this season. This time, the all-hands-on-deck approach worked.
The Blue Jays were short-handed offensively, since Santander’s dealing with left hip soreness in addition to the left shoulder soreness that kept him out of the lineup in Seattle last weekend. Between his .582 OPS at the plate and these nagging physical issues, it hasn’t been the start anyone envisioned for the switch-hitting Santander.
“He’s frustrated,” said manager John Schneider. “He’s trying to stay positive, but yeah, he’s frustrated. He’s frustrated with performance with nagging (injury) stuff. It feels like just when he was getting going, he dives into the stands (in Anaheim last week). Hopefully we can just get him squared away and get back out there. But he’s frustrated.”
With two out in the ninth inning, Schneider called on Santander to pinch hit, but the Tigers walked him intentionally before Clement walked it off.
On Sunday, it’ll be Jose Berrios on the mound opposite Jackson Jobe as the Blue Jays look to take the series and get back to .500.