Marcus Semien completed a homecoming with four hits, including a home run, and Randal Grichuk drove in five runs, three with a homer, as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays salvaged a four-game split with the Oakland Athletics with a 10-4 victory on Thursday afternoon.
Danny Jansen also homered for the Blue Jays, who were held to a total of five runs in two losses to open the series before exploding for 19 in two wins.
Mark Canha hit Hyun-Jin Ryu’s second pitch of the game for a home run, his fifth of the season, but things went pretty much downhill from there for the A’s, who lost for the fourth time in seven outings on their 10-game homestand.
After the A’s had overcome a three-run Grichuk homer in the top of the third inning to take a 4-3 lead on an RBI double by Matt Olson and two-run single by Sean Murphy in the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays scored twice in the fourth to take a lead they never relinquished before tacking on in the sixth and seventh.
Jansen’s homer, his first of the year, followed a single by Jonathan Davis off A’s starter Mike Fiers (0-2) in the fourth to put Toronto on top 5-4.
Fiers was pulled two batters later, charged with five runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Teoscar Hernandez had a two-run single and Grichuk an RBI double in a four-run seventh that broke the game open.
Semien’s homer, his seventh of the year, came with no one aboard in the seventh to complete the scoring.
Ryu (2-2) picked up the win despite allowing four runs and six hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette had three hits apiece for Toronto, which out-hit the host 16-6. Semien scored three times and Hernandez twice.
The homer by Grichuk was his sixth of the season. The five RBIs raised his season total to 26.
–Field Level Media