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Five Years Ago: Luke Maile Hits Extra Inning Game Winning Home Run

Baltimore Orioles v Toronto Blue Jays Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

Five Years Ago

Luke Maile hit two home runs off the Red Sox. The second one was a game-winner in the 12th inning.

In 2017 Maile hit .146/.176/.231 with 2 home runs, 3 walks and 35 strikeouts. Matt posted that Maile’s season was in the running for one of the worst in MLB history.

2018 he was a different hitter. After this game, his batting line was .339/.418/.542 (it wouldn’t stay that good, but he finished the year with a .700 OPS (much better than 2017’s .407).

Anyway...this game:

Aaron Sanchez started. He went 5 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. When he left the game, we were down 3-2. He gave up a run in the first on a walk (Mookie Betts) and a single (Andrew Benintendi), plus a flyout and a run-scoring ground out

We tied it in the bottom on the innings, when lead-off hitting Teoscar Hernandez doubled, off starter Chris Sale, and Josh Donaldson singled him home.

We went ahead in the second. Kendrys Morales started the inning with a ground-rule double. An Anthony Alford sac fly and a Luke Maile single scored him.

The Red Sox went ahead in the fourth. Xander Bogaerts led off with a home run. Then Mitch Moreland singled, moved to third on two ground outs (one should have been a double play, but Yangervis Solarte couldn’t get the ball out of his glove for the throw to first), and scored on a passed ball.

The Jays tied it up again on Luke Maile’s first home run in the seventh.

And it stayed tied until the 12th inning (back in the old days when we didn’t start extra innings with the Manfred Man) when Curtis Granderson led off with a walk, and then Maile hit his second home run of the game (and season).

Our bullpen pitched 7 scoreless innings. We got hitless innings from each of John Axford, Seugnhwan Oh (remember him?), Ryan Tepara, and Tyler Clippard (who had a terrific first half of the season, but the second half was far less good. Sam Gaviglio threw 3 scoreless innings, allowing just one baserunner, picking up the win.

Jays of the Day: Gaviglio (.433 WPA), Maile (.663), Granderson (.147) and Tepera (.111).

Suckage: Solarte (-.182, 0 for 5, 2 k, plus the ball getting stuck in his glove on a double play chance), Smoak (-.180, 0 for 5, 4 k, had no chance against Sale), Morales (-.168 1 for 5, double), Pompey (-.108 off the bunt strikeout) and Donaldson (-.135, 1 for 5, 4 k, most of them on check swings called strikes).

There are a few names I have pretty much forgotten. Solarte played second and third for us that year, hitting .226/.277/.378 on the season. He came to us in trade from the Padres for Jared Carkuff (who never made it out of the minors) and Edward Olivares (who plays for the Royals this year).

Lourdes Gurriel played shortstop, which I’ve tried to erase from my memory. Dalton Pompey pinch hit to bunt but couldn’t get the ball down. And Teoscar Hernandez leading off is

Boston Red Sox Table
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO PA BA OBP SLG OPS Pit Str WPA
Mookie Betts RF 5 1 0 0 1 2 6 .346 .430 .772 1.201 23 14 -0.004
Andrew Benintendi CF 5 0 1 0 1 1 6 .243 .335 .404 .740 30 16 -0.043
Hanley Ramirez DH 4 0 0 0 1 3 5 .289 .355 .452 .807 24 15 -0.229
J.D. Martinez LF 5 0 1 1 0 1 5 .343 .389 .615 1.004 18 12 -0.136
Xander Bogaerts SS 4 1 1 1 0 0 5 .326 .357 .576 .933 18 10 0.090
Mitch Moreland 1B 4 0 1 0 1 0 5 .321 .389 .619 1.009 22 14 -0.075
Eduardo Nunez 3B 5 0 1 0 0 1 5 .239 .264 .373 .637 17 12 -0.204
Brock Holt 2B 5 1 1 0 0 1 5 .321 .377 .482 .859 13 11 -0.028
Sandy Leon C 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 .159 .213 .227 .440 15 10 0.097
Rafael Devers PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .257 .301 .438 .739 6 5 -0.059
Christian Vazquez C 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .184 .238 .224 .463 1 1 -0.081
Team Totals 42 3 6 2 4 12 47 .143 .234 .238 .472 187 120 -0.672
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2023.
Toronto Blue Jays Table
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO PA BA OBP SLG OPS Pit Str WPA
Teoscar Hernandez RF 5 1 1 0 0 1 5 .255 .303 .545 .848 16 9 -0.087
Josh Donaldson 3B 5 0 1 1 0 4 5 .238 .319 .476 .795 27 18 -0.126
Yangervis Solarte 2B 5 0 0 0 0 2 5 .261 .338 .500 .838 21 18 -0.177
Justin Smoak 1B 5 0 0 0 0 4 5 .244 .347 .402 .748 22 14 -0.173
Kevin Pillar CF 5 0 2 0 0 0 5 .318 .360 .541 .901 15 12 -0.024
Kendrys Morales DH 5 1 1 0 0 2 5 .146 .230 .270 .500 19 13 -0.159
Anthony Alford LF 3 0 0 0 0 1 3 .111 .273 .111 .384 9 7 -0.070
Curtis Granderson PH-LF 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 .276 .444 .487 .931 10 2 0.148
Luke Maile C 4 2 3 4 1 1 5 .339 .418 .542 .960 14 9 0.682
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. SS 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 .206 .229 .309 .537 12 9 -0.080
Dalton Pompey PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .200 .273 .200 .473 3 3 -0.108
Richard Urena SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000
Team Totals 41 5 8 5 3 19 44 .195 .250 .415 .665 168 114 -0.174
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2023.
Boston Red Sox Table
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit WPA
Chris Sale 9 6 3 3 0 15 1 2.17 33 116 0.261
Matt Barnes 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 3.24 5 27 0.138
Carson Smith 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 3.55 4 20 0.138
Brian Johnson, L (1-2) 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 6.63 2 5 -0.363
Team Totals 11 8 5 5 3 19 2 4.09 44 168 0.174
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2023.
Toronto Blue Jays Table
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA BF Pit WPA
Aaron Sanchez 5 5 3 2 3 4 1 4.08 23 96 -0.094
John Axford 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.40 3 10 0.055
Seunghwan Oh 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.56 3 13 0.056
Ryan Tepera 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.89 3 12 0.107
Tyler Clippard 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.33 3 12 0.138
Sam Gaviglio, W (1-0) 3 1 0 0 0 3 0 0.00 12 44 0.413
Team Totals 12 6 3 2 4 12 1 1.50 47 187 0.675
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2023.