Morales ties franchise record as Jays come back to beat Phillies
Toronto slugger homers in 6th consecutive game; Sanchez torched in return from DL
Aledmys Diaz watched teammate Teoscar Hernandez's at bat from the on-deck circle closely, and knew what to expect from Phillies reliever Victor Arano when he stepped up to the plate with two out and the bases loaded in the eighth.
The Blue Jays third baseman hit a bases-clearing double to drive in three runs and cap off Toronto's 8-6 come-from-behind win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
"I just saw the at bat before when Teoscar was hitting, [Arano] threw a lot of sliders," said Diaz through an interpreter. "I didn't think he was going to throw any fastballs. He threw me a good (slider), the first one and the second one he put a little bit in the middle so I put good wood on it."
The win extends the Blue Jays (60-69) streak to a season-high five games. Joe Biagini (2-7) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Ken Giles picked up his 18th save of the season.
Seranthony Dominguez (1-5) was charged with three earned runs on one hit in two-thirds of an inning for the Phillies (69-60) who have dropped six of their past seven games.
Sanchez confident despite outing
Aaron Sanchez, activated off the disabled list on Saturday (right index finger contusion), was tagged for six earned runs on 10 hits over parts of six innings. The Blue Jays right-hander struck out two and walked a pair.
"I think off the bat, I pitched better than the line says," said Sanchez. "Defence was outstanding there all game, bullpen harnessed down the remainder of the six innings or five innings after I came out. The guys got big hits in big situations and we were fortunate enough to come out with the win."
Kendrys Morales and Billy McKinney each hit a two-run home runs and Teoscar Hernandez delivered an RBI single in the win.
Rhys Hoskins scored Roman Quinn on a sac-fly for the game's first run in the third.
Quinn added to the lead in the fourth, doubling down the first baseline to drive in a pair of runs. Two batters later, Hoskins singled to left field to score Odubel Herrera and Quinn giving Philly a 5-0 lead.
Making history
Morales put the Blue Jays on the board in the bottom half of the inning, taking Pivetta's 2-2 pitch over the wall for a two-run home run. It was Morales's 20th of the season, and sixth in as many games, tying him with Jose Cruz Jr. (2001) for the longest home run streak in franchise history.
"He's been on a nice little role now for a while, a good while," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "Early in the year, he was chasing a lot of breaking balls, off-speed pitches down in the dirt, down in the zone — that's what was getting him into trouble. He's laying off those now and he's even hitting breaking balls."
Toronto cut Philly's lead to 5-3 on Hernandez's RBI single four batters later.
The Phillies doubled their lead in the fifth on Jorge Alfaro's single, which scored Asdrubal Cabrera.
Philly starter, and Victoria native, Nick Pivetta surrendered five earned runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking three over 6 2/3 innings of work.