TORONTO – The Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of a shaky bullpen performance by the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon in a 4-2 comeback win over Toronto at Rogers Centre.
Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada was brilliant over seven innings but relievers Drew Storen and closer Roberto Osuna couldn’t hold the one-run lead in the eighth. Storen (0-2) put two runners in scoring position and the Dodgers brought them both home against Osuna.
Chase Utley led off with a walk and moved to third base on a ground-rule double by Corey Seager. Osuna then struck out Justin Turner and intentionally walked Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases.
Yasmani Grandal hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the tying run and Howie Kendrick put the Dodgers ahead with an RBI single. Los Angeles (16-15) tacked on an insurance run in the ninth.
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Reliever Chris Hatcher (3-3) worked one inning for the win and Kenley Jansen earned his 11th save. Los Angeles outhit Toronto 8-5.
Estrada – who allowed just three hits – was matched by Dodgers starter Ross Stripling, who gave up one hit and one earned run over six innings. The Dodgers took two of three in the weekend interleague series to leave Toronto (16-17) with a 4-3 mark on their homestand.
After a pair of clean innings, Kevin Pillar put Toronto on the board in the third. He led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Ryan Goins grounder to the right side.
The Dodgers put their first runner on in the fourth inning when Utley drew a walk. After a Seager strikeout, Turner reached on a Troy Tulowitzki error.
Estrada responded by catching Gonzalez looking before fanning Grandal. The Toronto right-hander finished with two walks and eight strikeouts.
Pillar, who entered play with a .385 average over his last 14 games, nearly had another hit in the fifth inning but Joc Pederson robbed him with a nice diving catch in shallow centre field.
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The sellout crowd of 46,665 gave Estrada a nice cheer after Trayce Thompson led off the sixth with a double for the first Los Angeles hit of the afternoon. Thompson moved to third on a Utley sacrifice fly but was left stranded when Gonzalez grounded out.
Pederson put the Dodgers on the board with a solo homer in the seventh inning. He belted a hanging curveball over the wall for his sixth homer of the season.
Toronto regained the lead in the bottom half of the frame. Justin Smoak hit a two-out single off Hatcher and Tulowitzki walked before Pillar smacked a single to right field.
Smoak was originally held at third base but came home with the go-ahead run when Thompson bobbled the ball.
Toronto relievers Jesse Chavez, Chad Girodo and Gavin Floyd all worked in the ninth. Smoak hit a one-out ground-rule double off Jansen but the right-hander got Tulowitzki on a lineout and Pillar on a strikeout to end it.
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