Kazuma Okamoto Sparks Blue Jays 6-5 Reds Comeback

The Blue Jays beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 on Friday, which is lovely until you remember they did it by first building a small emotional shed, setting it on fire, and then calling the fire department in the seventh inning.

Classic architecture.

Toronto led 2-0 after the first.

Toronto trailed 5-2 after the third.

Toronto won 6-5 anyway.

This was not a baseball game so much as a raccoon trying to solve a combination lock while wearing oven mitts.

And somehow, the raccoon got into the safe.

The first inning was suspiciously competent

The evening began with dangerous levels of clarity.

In the bottom of the first, Alejandro Kirk doubled off Nick Lodolo on a sharp line drive to center fielder Carlos Jorge. Charles McAdoo scored.

Good.

Normal.

A run in the first inning, arriving without a permit issue.

Then Kazuma Okamoto doubled off Lodolo on a sharp line drive to left fielder JJ Bleday. Kirk scored.

Two runs.

Okamoto on the board.

The Jays with a 2-0 lead.

This is where a responsible team might say, excellent, let us now protect this lead with adult supervision and sensible footwear.

The Blue Jays instead opened the side door and invited the plot twist inside for tea.

José Soriano was on the mound for the trouble, and the trouble did not arrive quietly.

In the top of the second, Eugenio Suárez homered off Soriano on a fly ball to left field.

Fine. Annoying, but fine.

Then came the top of the third, which wandered in carrying a trombone and a jar of bees.

Elly De La Cruz doubled off Soriano on a fly ball to left fielder Davis Schneider. Oswaldo Cabrera scored. Carlos Jorge scored.

Sal Stewart singled on a line drive to right fielder Nathan Lukes. De La Cruz scored.

Héctor Rodríguez grounded into a force out, pitcher Soriano to shortstop Ernie Clement. Stewart scored.

That was the hole.

Not a pothole.

A municipal excavation.

The middle innings were a group nap with consequences

From the fourth through the sixth, neither team scored.

This was technically stabilizing.

It was also the kind of stabilizing where everyone sits very still because the bookshelf is leaning and nobody wants to find out why.

The Jays had 10 hits in the game and left 10 on base, which feels like hosting a dinner party and forgetting to serve the dinner.

The Reds had 12 hits and left 7 on base.

Toronto made 0 errors.

Cincinnati made 1.

Somewhere inside that math was a one-run Blue Jays win, apparently hiding under a pile of old receipts.

Charles McAdoo went 2-for-3. Myles Straw went 2-for-2. Nathan Lukes went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Kirk went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

There were pieces.

The pieces simply spent several innings refusing to become furniture.

George Springer went 0-for-5, which is not usually the recommended path to becoming part of the decisive rally.

Naturally, he scored in it.

Baseball remains a haunted board game designed by an intern with a grudge.

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The seventh inning put on a fake moustache

The bottom of the seventh began with the Jays down 5-2 and the room smelling faintly of wet cardboard.

Then Luis Mey appeared for Cincinnati, and the Jays finally remembered the concept of sequential events.

Guerrero singled on a ground ball to right fielder Héctor Rodríguez. Andrés Giménez scored. Kirk went to second.

Now it was 5-3.

The door was open just enough for Blue Jays fans to stick one suspicious eye through it.

Then Pierce Johnson entered, and Okamoto did the thing.

Again.

Okamoto doubled on a sharp line drive to center fielder Carlos Jorge. Kirk scored. Guerrero scored. Springer went to third.

Tie game.

Okamoto went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI, and both run-scoring swings were doubles. No home run needed. No fireworks permit. Just doubles delivered with the calm menace of a person returning a library book on time.

Then Lukes singled on a ground ball to left fielder JJ Bleday. Springer scored. Okamoto went to third.

The Jays led 6-5.

A four-run seventh.

A comeback constructed out of ground balls, line drives, and whatever emotional glue keeps this fan base from dissolving in September.

The pitching staff found the lid

Soriano finished with 3.0 innings, 5 earned runs, and 2 strikeouts.

That is the part where everyone stares at the carpet.

But the rest of the pitching line did its best impression of a locked door.

Chad Dallas had 1.1 innings, 0 earned runs, and 3 strikeouts. Louis Varland had 1.0 inning, 0 earned runs, and 2 strikeouts. Brendan Cellucci had 2.0 innings, 0 earned runs, and 3 strikeouts. Mason Fluharty had 0.2 innings with 0 earned runs. Tyler Rogers had 1.0 inning, 0 earned runs, and 1 strikeout.

The Jays pitching total was 11 strikeouts.

After the Reds put up 4 in the third, the Cincinnati line stayed at 0 the rest of the way.

Imagine that.

A lid.

On the pot.

Not beside the pot, not under the couch, not being used as a cymbal by a raccoon.

Actually on the pot.

Toronto is now 78-82, with a .488 winning percentage, a 3-7 last ten, and a W1 streak. They are still fifth in the division, because joy here comes with paperwork.

Today, Trey Yesavage is listed for the Jays against Rhett Lowder and the Reds.

Fine.

Bring it on.

If Friday taught us anything, it is that no Blue Jays game is over until the seventh inning has checked every drawer for loose change.