The Associated Press
Jill Painter Lopez
ANAHEIM, Calif.–Kendrys Morales ditched his glasses and found his swing.
Morales connected for a pinch-hit homer in the 10th inning–sending the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-6 victory over the L.A. Angels yesterday afternoon.
Morales hit a two-out drive to right off Hansel Robles for his eighth homer.
Robles (2-3) was making his Angels’ debut after he was claimed off waivers from the N.Y. Mets.
The 35-year-old Morales made his major-league debut with L.A. in 2006 and played for the Angels for six years.
“It always feels good. I don’t think it matters more or less that it was the team that signed me,” Morales said through an interpreter.
“That was a good moment, and I’ll take it and I’m happy for it.”
Jays’ manager John Gibbons thinks there’s something to Morales not using the glasses he tried.
“He’s always been a good hitter. He’s always been a dangerous hitter,” Gibbons noted. “I was telling somebody the other day, he got rid of his glasses.
“The glasses were screwing him up.”
Curtis Granderson, Aledmys Diaz, and Devon Travis also homered for Toronto, which split the four-game series after dropping the first two.
Diaz had two hits and scored three times yesterday.
Travis praised Gibbons for sending Morales to the plate in the 10th.
“Two outs, putting Kendrys in in that situation. He’s a good hitter. That was awesome,” Travis said.
“Kendrys has been swinging the bat so well really all year,” he noted. “You can look at his numbers and they don’t quite tell the story.
“I feel every time the guy goes to the box, he puts the barrel on the ball, he puts up a good at-bat, and just happy things have been going better in the luck department lately.
“That was a big one right there,” Travis added. “He’s a guy in this locker-room that gels everyone together.”
The Blue Jays had a 6-3 lead before the Angels rallied in the eighth, taking advantage of two errors.
Ryan Tepera (5-2) replaced Aaron Loup with two out and the bases loaded, and Martin Maldonado responded with a three-run double to left.
Tepera then picked Maldonado off second to end the inning.
He also worked the ninth before Tyler Clippard got three outs in the 10th for his fourth save.
Toronto jumped in front on Travis’ three-run homer off Felix Pena in the second.
Diaz hit a tie-breaking lead-off drive in the sixth, then Granderson added his seventh of the season with two out.
Justin Upton hit his 17th homer for the Angels while Maldonado had two hits and four RBIs.
Pena, a converted reliever making just his second career start, allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.
“We battled back. We didn’t do enough things in the end,” said Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia.
“We couldn’t keep it in the park,” he noted. “They hit four home runs off us.
“We do a good job getting back in games.”
Toronto right-hander Sam Gaviglio was charged with three runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings in his first start back from paternity leave.
Gaviglio’s daughter, Livia, was born on Tuesday.
“It was nice. It’s like riding a bike,” Gaviglio said. “It’s just another baseball game.”
Elsewhere in the AL, Minnesota beat Texas 2-0, Boston blanked Seattle 5-0, Tampa Bay edged New York 7-6 (12 innings), Cleveland bombed Detroit 12-2, Houston pounded Kansas City 11-3, and Chicago dumped Oakland 10-3
Over in the NL, Cincinnati beat Chicago 8-6, L.A. edged New York 8-7 (11 innings), Arizona blanked Pittsburgh 3-0, St. Louis dumped Milwaukee 8-2, Miami upended Colorado 8-5, San Francisco nipped San Diego 3-2 (11 innings), and Washington topped Philadelphia 8-6.
Atlanta beat Baltimore 7-3 in interleague play.
