Lee still winless as Jays rally late
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Rajai Davis drove home Yunel Escobar in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied late and beat the visiting Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5, Saturday afternoon.
Philadelphia southpaw Cliff Lee appeared to be closing in on his first win of the season, taking the mound with a 5-2 lead in the eighth.
Jose Bautista worked a leadoff walk and Edwin Encarnacion followed with a single to left field. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins took the relay throw from John Mayberry Jr. and made an errant throw to second that enabled both runners to score.
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"It was my fault," said Rollins about the error. "I saw the runner and, you know, just threw it into right field."
Chad Qualls replaced Lee after a single by Kelly Johnson, who advanced to third on a one-out base hit by pinch-hitter David Cooper. J.P. Arencibia then tied the game with a double down the third-base line. Qualls retired the next two batters to end the inning.
In the 10th, losing pitcher Joe Savery (0-2) issued a leadoff walk to Escobar, who took second base on a balk and moved to third on a groundout. After Arencibia struck out swinging, Davis stroked a single to left-center field, sending the Blue Jays to their second win in this three- game series.
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Escobar collected three hits, including a solo home run, for Toronto. Starter Ricky Romero gave up four runs on seven hits over six frames, while Francisco Cordero (2-4) was the winning pitcher after firing a scoreless 10th.
"He gave up a few early but still grinded out six solid inning for us and really kept us in the game enough to give us a fighting chance at the end," remarked Blue Jays reliever Casey Janssen about Romero.
Mayberry crushed a three-run homer for the Phillies, who fell to 1-7 on the road in extra innings.
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Lee, meanwhile, remains winless through his first 11 starts of the season. He was tagged for five runs on a career-high-tying 12 hits in seven-plus innings.
The Phillies opened the scoring in the first inning when back-to-back one-out doubles by Placido Polanco and Hunter Pence produced a run.
Escobar launched a game-tying blast with two gone in the second, but Philadelphia went ahead 4-1 in the third after squandering a bases-loaded opportunity the previous frame. Shane Victorino and Ty Wigginton hit consecutive two-out singles before Mayberry stroked a line drive homer over the left-field wall.
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Toronto strung together three straight one-out singles in the home third, with Davis scoring on Colby Rasmus' base hit to right. After Lee retired Bautista on an infield pop-up, Brett Lawrie was caught stealing home to end the inning.
Rollins doubled home Brian Schneider in the top of the eighth for a three-run advantage.
Game Notes
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The Blue Jays registered their 1,000th career win at Rogers Centre...Bautista has reached base safely in 16 straight games...For the third time this week, the Toronto Blue Jays have lost a pitcher to the disabled list. Rookie right- hander Drew Hutchison left Friday's start against Philadelphia after nine pitches with elbow soreness and on Saturday was placed on the 15-day DL with an ulnar collateral ligament sprain. Fellow righties Brandon Morrow and Kyle Drabek also left starts earlier this week and landed on the DL, Morrow with a strained left oblique and Drabek with ligament damage to his right elbow that could result in a second Tommy John procedure.