March 28, 2024

Cubs sweep Blue Jays with wild victory in 10 innings

CHICAGO (AP) — Alex Avila felt for Raffy Lopez. It was quite a day for catchers.
Avila capped Chicago's three-run 10th inning with a two-run single, and the Cubs swept the Toronto Blue Jays with a wild 6-5 victory on Sunday.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Avila lined a base hit into right field against Roberto Osuna (3-4). Ben Zobrist scored easily and Javier Baez slid in safely just ahead of the tag attempt by Lopez.

“The first pitch that I fouled off was a cutter in deep and he tried to go back in there with another cutter and just kind of left it more middle of the plate,” Avila said.

The improbable rally also included two batters reaching on swing-and-miss strikeouts and a wild pitch that scored Kyle Schwarber — all with Lopez behind the plate. The 29-year-old backstop also got beat up by a couple other balls in the inning.

“It is a tough one,” he said. “You feel like it’s your fault. Sometimes the game gets the best of you. You’ve just got to bounce back. Just learn from it. I just have to respond.”

Toronto grabbed the lead with two runs in the top of the inning on Kevin Pillar's RBI single off Koji Uehara, and Norichika Aoki's bases-loaded loaded walk against Justin Wilson (4-4).
Osuna, however, was handed his eighth blown save of the year.

“They’ve got the magic here. There’s no doubt about it,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Pillar also robbed Kris Bryant of extra bases with a spectacular leaping catch against the ivy-covered wall in center in the seventh, drawing appreciative cheers from the crowd of 41,459 at Wrigley Field.

Albert Almora Jr. hit a three-run double for NL Central-leading Chicago, which completed its fifth three-game sweep of the season. Kyle Hendricks allowed three runs and six hits in six innings.

Chicago jumped in front on Almora’s big hit in the third, but Toronto responded with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, capped by Miguel Montero’s second homer since the Cubs traded the catcher to the Blue Jays. After Jose Bautista flied out to begin the sixth, Montero drove Hendricks’ next pitch over the wall in left-center.