Panik sacrifice fly caps 3-run 9th inning as Blue Jays rally to stun Marlins

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored the winning run on Joe Panik's sacrifice fly, capping a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 6-5 victory over the skidding Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.

"If you want to be a winning team, everybody's got to contribute," Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. "(Panik) came through with the big hit, the big sac fly. It was great."

Bo Bichette tied it with a two-run triple, and Randal Grichuk hit two solo homers to help Toronto improve to 2-0 this season in its temporary Buffalo home.

Panik lofted a one-out fly in a steady rain against reliever Yimi Garcia (3-4) and reached safely when center fielder Starling Marte dropped the ball for an error.

With the Blue Jays trailing 5-3, Reese McGuire and Marcus Semien started the ninth with singles and Bichette drove in both with a triple to right field. Guerrero and Teoscar Hernandez were walked intentionally to load the bases before Grichuk hit into a force play, setting the stage for Panik.

"My command with my fastball was not working well," Garcia said. "It led to things not happening the way I wanted them to happen."

Bichette's triple down the right-field line followed a pair of foul balls to the right side.

"I could tell he was staying back," Montoyo said. "That's when he's really good. His two-strike approach is outstanding. It was beautiful."

Anthony Castro (1-1) pitched a hitless ninth.

Corey Dickerson, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jesus Aguilar and Marte homered for Miami, which has lost five straight. Marlins starter Pablo Lopez tied his career high with nine strikeouts over four innings.

Toronto rookie Alek Manoah, a native of Homestead, Fla., ran into trouble against his hometown team and allowed three home runs in the first three innings and left with the bases loaded in the fourth.

Manoah tossed six shutout innings in his major league debut last Thursday at Yankee Stadium. Against the Marlins, the 23-year-old right-hander allowed four hits and three walks while striking out five.

"I wasn't executing the off-speed pitches the way I needed," Manoah said. "Even when I have a good outing, it's a learning experience. They put some balls in the air today. That's baseball."

Lopez, who also had nine strikeouts on April 18 against San Francisco, fanned seven of eight batters at one point, with Grichuk's second homer of the night interrupting the impressive streak.

Dickerson opened the scoring with a one-out solo shot in the second inning, his second of the season. Chisholm struck with a two-run drive in the third, his sixth, to put Miami up 3-1, before Aguilar went deep one out later for his 10th of the year.

After Manoah walked two batters and hit another with a pitch with one out in the fourth, he was replaced by Joel Payamps, who fanned Chisholm and got Marte to ground out.

Grichuk hit his 11th homer leading off the fourth inning against Lopez to make it 4-2. It was Grichuk's 10th career multi-homer game.

Guerrero, the American League batting leader, tripled in his first at-bat, but went 1 for 4 to drop his average to .335. In the seventh inning, with two on and Toronto trailing 5-2, he roped a sharp line drive to right field, only to have it caught by Adam Duvall. Hernandez then reached on Chisholm's error at shortstop, enabling Semien to score from second.

The Blue Jays are unable to play in Toronto for a second straight season because of Canadian health restrictions due to COVID-19.