Fastball

Toronto Blue Jays Win Friday in One of Rarest Games in Last Five Years of History

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, 5-3, in one of the rarest games in baseball history over the last five years.

Brady Farkas

May 31, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Davis Schneider (36) is surrounded by his teammates after hitting a walkoff home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fourteenth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
May 31, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Davis Schneider (36) is surrounded by his teammates after hitting a walkoff home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fourteenth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports / Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
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The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night, 5-3, thanks to a walk-off home run from Davis Schneider in the 14th inning at Rogers Centre.

The win moved Toronto to 27-29 as they continue to creep back towards .500 while the loss dropped Pittsburgh to 26-31.

The game was also one of the rarest in baseball over the last five years of baseball history.

Per FOX Sports MLB on "X:"

Only five games since 2020 have gone into the 14th inning.

(h/t @CodifyBaseball)

Ever since 2020, Major League Baseball has played extra innings with the "automatic runner" rule, so games end much quicker. Codify Baseball also said that in 2018 alone, 19 games last 14 or more innings, while 23 games went at least 14 innings in 2019.

The automatic runner was initially put in during the COVID 2020 season as a way to speed up games and keep players from staying on the field with one another longer than they had to. Furthermore, it was there to keep pitchers from throwing a ton of extra pitches, therefore negating the need for more roster moves in the middle of the pandemic. It also increased urgency, pacing and excitement, something that baseball had long wanted anyways, so it was implemented permanently.

The Blue Jays and Pirates will play again on Saturday afternoon with first pitch coming at 3:07 p.m. ET.

Mitch Keller will pitch for Pittsburgh while Yusei Kikuchi gets the ball for Toronto. Keller is 6-3 with a 3.59 ERA while Kikuch is 2-4 with a 3.25.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.