MIAMI — Bo Bichette scooped up Xavier Edwards’ grounder at short, and without hesitation, fired to Andrés Giménez at second.
Otto Lopez, who had started the 12th inning on second, desperately dove back to the bag. Too late. He was tagged out.
Bichette’s delivered the go-ahead run in the 12th inning with his fourth hit of the day and played great defense in the clutch, lifting the Blue Jays to a wild 7-6 win in 12 innings over the Marlins on Saturday afternoon at loanDepot park.
But Bichette’s decision to throw to second in the bottom of the 12th all but secured this game and this series victory after the Blue Jays blew a four-run lead in the later innings.
The Blue Jays are the only MLB team in the modern era (since 1900) to blow a lead in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings but still win the game, via STATS.
“The play in the 12th was unbelievable,” said Toronto designated hitter George Springer.
“That’s the play of the game, obviously,” noted manager John Schneider. “You get into extras, 11th, 12th, you need a home run, you need a play like that to kind of break your way. It’s him and [Giménez] being in touch with what’s going on. They put pressure on you on the bases.
“[Giménez] being there for one, them communicating, and Bo with the split-second decision to make the play and make a good throw. It was a bang-bang play.”
Bichette made another clutch play in the seventh, turning a sharp line drive by Javier Sanoja into a run-saving out. He snagged Myles Straw’s relay throw in left field and delivered a perfect strike to catcher Alejandro Kirk, who tagged out the sliding Troy Johnston at home. The Marlins challenged the call, but it was upheld.
“Throw in four hits and not a bad day at the end,” Schneider quipped.
Bichette went 4-for-6 with an RBI and is hitting .448 (13-for-29) with four RBIs over his last seven games.
“He knows when the team needs him. He shows up and he does his thing,” said José Berríos, who allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings on Saturday.
“He hit the ball hard all night,” Springer said. “His at-bats have been great. He’s been unbelievable all year. He’s been unbelievable with guys in scoring position in huge spots.”
Springer has been hot himself. He came into the game 7-for-23 with 5 RBIs and three homers in six games since coming off the injured list and was 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a home run Saturday, hitting a long ball off Tyler Phillips in the seventh inning.
“He’s been awesome the whole year,” Schneider said of Springer. “He squashed the first four balls he hit. Even the double play, he hit hard. He’s in a good spot. You just feel really good with him at the plate.”
After Springer’s homer, the Blue Jays led 4-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, when the Marlins, who had one hit up to that point, finally broke through against Berríos, who was responsible for two of the runs scored in the three-run seventh for Miami.
The Marlins then scored on an RBI single by Sanoja in the bottom of the ninth off Jeff Hoffman to force extra innings. Both teams scored a run each in the 10th and 11th to extend the game. After Bichette put Toronto up 7-6 in the 12th, Brendon Little recorded three straight outs — the first of which being Bichette’s play to get Lopez — to grab his second career save.
“It was fun. It hurt for us to fight until the end, and to be on the winning end was awesome,” Springer said. “It’s an experience for all of us in here to see who we are as a team.”
Berríos retired the Marlins in order the first two innings before giving up his first hit — an infield single by Dane Myers — in the third. That was the only hit he allowed until the seventh when he surrendered three consecutive singles, including an RBI knock to Johnston. Berríos struck out eight and issued no walks.
“Man, he was great. He had such a good changeup tonight,” Schneider said. “I think he had four strikeouts on it. He had a good breaking ball. And he spotted his fastball pretty damn well.”
“I was locating pitches down in the zone,” Berríos said. “The big key today was I was secure in the location and had great success out there.”
