Blue Jays Win In 18th Inning, Beat Texas

Blue Jays outfielder Rajai Davis didn't expect to put in a full day's work when he came on as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning.

Three hours and 10 innings later, he sent his team home happy by delivering the winning hit.   

Davis drove in Emilio Bonifacio with a two-out single in the 18th inning and Toronto beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 Saturday in a game that matched the longest in club history for both teams.

"Considering I got in in the eighth and still played a full game, it's pretty remarkable," Davis said. "I think it's the longest game of my career."

The game lasted 5 hours, 28 minutes, making it 3 hours, 20 minutes longer than Friday's meeting between the teams. Texas equaled a season high with its third straight loss.

Having just stood up for a rare 17th inning stretch, only a small fraction of the crowd of 44,079 remained when Bonifacio hit a one-out single in the 18th and took third with two outs on a wild pickoff throw by Ross Wolf (1-1).

Wolf (1-1) was Texas' fifth pitcher and worked 6 2-3 innings, almost as many as starter Yu Darvish, who went seven.

"He did an outstanding job," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Wolf. "That's the prototype for what a long man is supposed to do."

The Rangers played 18 innings for the fifth time in their history. They last did it on June 24, 2004, beating Seattle 9-7.

Toronto led 3-1 heading into the ninth, but the Rangers rallied with two runs off closer Casey Janssen behind a trio of Texas pinch-hitters. Leonys Martin singled, David Murphy walked and A.J. Pierzynski drove in a run with a broken-bat single, then Elvis Andrus tied it with a sacrifice fly.

According to STATS, the last time three Rangers pinch-hitters reached safely was July 15, 1999, against Arizona.

Darvish allowed two earned runs and five hits. He walked three and struck out seven.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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