Springer’s Heroic Homer Pushes Jays into Tie For Wild Card Spot

George Springer homered with two outs in the seventh to complete the Blue Jays' comeback and steal Game No. 1 at Camden Yards.

© John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Every ball game needs a hero and, in Saturday’s 11-10 comeback win, George Springer rose to the occasion. 

Trailing by three runs in the seventh inning, Toronto’s Teoscar Hernández started things off with a double down the left field line.

Corey Dickerson walked, then Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drove Hernández in with a single off the wall in right field. A Jake Lamb sac fly moved the score within one, before Springer came to the plate.

With pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson shuffling off first, and Toronto down to its final out, the Blue Jays’ designated hitter crushed a game-winning two-run homer just inside the left field foul pole. 

Did a full 180...crazy 🤯 #SpringerDinger pic.twitter.com/l5PlvzqlUN

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 11, 2021

The Blue Jays’ dugout exploded while Springer rounded first base, pumping his fists as he celebrated one of the biggest home runs of Toronto’s season.

It’s obvious the 31-year-old hasn't been fully healthy since returning from a Grade 1 knee sprain, but he came through in the biggest spot of the game and helped his club pull off the comeback in dramatic fashion. The four-run seventh inning helped undo the damage from Hyun Jin Ryu's worst start of the season. 

As a starting pitcher in a game like this, where we have a doubleheader of two short seven inning games," Ryu said through a translator, "giving up a lot of runs earlier in the game just felt like I haven't done what I had to do. 

"I felt really bad for the position players and all my teammates, but on the other side, they were able to compete and fight every at-bat and get us the win."

The Orioles scored twice in the first inning and the hit parade continued thereafter, as Ryu allowed two more runs in the second, capped off by an Austin Hays two-run blast to left field. 

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo came out to chat after Ryu loaded the bases in the third. The left-hander convinced his skipper he was good to go, but promptly allowed a two-run double to Ryan McKenna, ending his night.

Poor command was the culprit for Ryu during his 2 1/3 innings of work. He allowed seven earned runs on eight hits (two homers), walked one and struck out four in his shortest outing since April 8, 2019. 

Luckily for Ryu, the Blue Jays roared all the way back to snatch the game from Baltimore and pull into a tie with the Yankees for the second AL wild-card spot.