Kiner-Falefa has winning hit in 9th inning and Blue Jays beat Orioles 3-2

Updated Jun. 5, 2024 10:54 p.m. ET

Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Justin Turner singled off Craig Kimbrel (0-2) to begin the ninth, his third hit of the game.

Cavan Biggio ran for Turner and advanced to second base on Kimbrel’s errant pickoff throw. He moved to third on a flyball and scored on Kiner-Falefa’s base hit to right field.

“It was a really cool moment for me, and my first real cool moment as a Blue Jay,” Kiner-Falefa said.

Kiner-Falefa had two hits and two RBIs as Toronto won in its last at-bat for the second time this season, and the second time this homestand.

“It feels good to come out with a W,” Kiner-Falefa said. “Hopefully it’s a little momentum shift and we keep things rolling.”

The Blue Jays beat Pittsburgh 5-3 in 14 innings last Friday, ending it with a home run by Davis Schneider.

Kimbrel hadn’t allowed a run since May 8 against Washington, but was left frustrated by his costly miscue.

“I yanked it, threw the ball away and kind of made it a lot easier on them,” Kimbrel said.

The Orioles are 6-9 in one-run games.

Toronto bounced back after losing the first two games of the series by a combined score of 17-3.

“It feels good to move on from the last two,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

Yimi García (2-0) struck out a pair in one inning of work to earn the win as the Blue Jays posted their 11th comeback victory.

“Yimi García might be the best reliever in the game right now, the way he’s throwing the baseball,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said.

Anthony Santander hit his 12th homer of the season for the Orioles, opening the scoring with a 436-foot leadoff homer in the second. The second-deck drive came off Blue Jays right-hander José Berríos.

Later in the inning, Ramón Urías drove in Cedric Mullins with a two-out double.

“Berríos is a really tough starter,” Hyde said. “It was nice to get a couple of runs off him early. We just couldn’t get anything going after that.”

Toronto tied in the bottom half. George Springer drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on Turner’s double and scored on Alejandro Kirk’s sacrifice fly. Kiner-Falefa followed with an RBI single.

“Getting those two runs back I think gave us a little life,” Kiner-Falefa said. “It just kept us in the fight. If we don’t score that, we’re pretty deflated after the first two games.”

Orioles right-hander Albert Suárez allowed two runs and five hits in five innings in his sixth start of the season. He walked one and struck out four.

Berríos allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. He matched a season-high with three walks and struck out two.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays LHP Yusei Kikuchi (2-5, 3.66 ERA) will try to snap a seven-start winless streak in Thursday’s series finale. Hyde said the Orioles will promote LHP Cade Povich from Triple-A to make his major league debut. Povich was 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 starts at Norfolk.

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