TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 14: Jose Bautista #19 of the Toronto Blue Jays throws his bat up in the air after he hits a three-run home run in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers in game five of the American League Division Series at Rogers Centre on October 14, 2015 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Eleven Years Ago Today:

Between this moment and Joe Carter’s iconic home run, I can’t decide which stands out as my favorite in Blue Jays history.

You probably recall the details, but from the recap:

The top of the 7th was nuts. I’m not sure I can explain it all.

Aaron Sanchez came in, replacing Marcus Stroman (who was just terrific), with the score tied. He gave up a leadoff single to, of course, Roughed Odor. Chris Gimenez bunted him to second. He got to third on a groundout to Delino DeShields (great play by Josh Donaldson). Then it got weird.

After a pitch to Shin-Soo Choo, Russell Martin hit Chin’s bat/hand with the ball trying to throw it to the pitcher. Now, a strange bunch of happenings happened all at once. Odor (my spellcheck wants me to spell it Odour) came running home. Then the ump sent him back. Rangers argued. And the umps had to overturn it.

Jays argued more. The umps reviewed the replay. After a lengthy review, they upheld the run-scoring call. Jays protested.

The umpire shouldn’t have called time, but who knows the rule for the catcher hitting the bat with the throw to the pitcher.

The Jays thought the play was over when the umpire called time. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. If an umpire (infrequently) calls time while a play is in progress, the game continues until it ends.

But it seemed unfair. It was unjust, but the run would have scored if the ump hadn’t called time.

The scene was chaotic. The fans at the game, understandably, erupted, tossing whatever they had—which, at a baseball game, was mostly beer—onto the field. Naturally, not everyone could reach the field, so people in the lower levels got drenched. You’d see the same reaction in any ballpark.

Going into the bottom of the 7th, it didn’t look good.

Amazingly, in the bottom of the inning, the Rangers looked rattled.

An error by Andrus let Russell Martin reach.

Kevin Pillar reached on a Mitch Williams error.

Ryan Goins reached on another Elvis Andrus error.

Bases loaded by errors.

Looking a little too excited, Ben Revere grounded out into a 3-2 putout. Dalton Pompey slid into the catcher and scored. Replay review showed Dalton did nothing wrong.

Josh Donaldson popped a short pop-out to second, but instead of turning and running to it, Odor tried running backward and missed it. But Revere, of course, had to stick close to first, and he was out at second. The good news was that Pillar scored. Game tied.

Then Jose Bautista hit the ball a mile. A 3-run homer. We go from down by one, sad and angry, to up by three and thrilled. I jumped up and down forever. Jose’s bat flip was epic.

But the game wasn’t over.

After that, Aaron Sanchez came back out (Gibby should have replaced him; he had been sitting forever). He got one out, but two guys were on base.

Thankfully, Roberto Osuna came in and had a drama-free 5-out save. What a fantastic performance.

Earlier in the game:

Marcus Stroman was a little shaky at first, but he got it together and pitched well. He gave up a run in the first and a solo Choo homer in the 3rd. In all, 6 innings, 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts.

We scored one in the 3rd, Revere singled, and Bautista doubled him home.

And once in the 6th (to tie), Edwin Encarnacion clubbed a solo homer.

Kevin Pillar (what else is new) made a fantastic catch in the 4th.

The game thread had 3491 comments.

Scott had a minute-by-minute rundown of the 7th inning. You really should read it.

Jasper shared thoughts on the craziness from other SB Nation sites.

From True Blue LA:

I wouldn’t have cared if Bautista took his shirt off and started running around the bases and doing cartwheels. That was an extraordinary moment.

And from Grant Brisbee:

The baseball gods are on peyote, throwing flaming furniture off the roof, and there’s not a damned thing we can do about it.

The Rangers and their fans have complained about the bat flip ever since. But of course, if it had been the other way around, they would have enjoyed the bat flip. Roughned Odor has flipped the bat many times since (and, of course, never in as big a moment).

Sometimes it feels like baseball has matured; other times, not so much.

I’m sure that moment is etched in your memory, but I don’t mind watching it over and over again.

As often is the case, Minor Leaguer made a tee shirt. I wore it just the other day.

Bluebird Banter

Message History

Delivery option(s)