Pinch hitter Daniel Palka hit a two-run, go-ahead single in a six-run bottom of the eighth, and the Chicago White Sox came back to defeat the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 9-5 on Saturday night.
Leury Garcia had four RBIs -- including a three-run triple in the eighth -- and Yolmer Sanchez and Nicky Delmonico hit solo home runs for the White Sox, as the teams have split the first two games of a three-game series.
Toronto reliever Jaime Garcia walked Yoan Moncado to open the bottom of the eighth. Sanchez forced Moncada at second on a grounder to Jaime Garcia and took third on a double by Jose Abreu.
Ryan Tepera (5-4) replaced Jaime Garcia and allowed an RBI single to Avisail Garcia. Delmonico was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Palka followed with his two-run single to give the White Sox a 6-5 lead.
Tepera hit Kevan Smith with a pitch to load the bases again, and Leury Garcia tripled to bump the lead to 9-5.
Juan Minaya (1-2) pitched around a single in the top of the eighth to pick up the win.
Toronto's Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 2-for-5 with two RBIs to give him a club-record 10th straight multi-hit game.
Russell Martin hit a solo homer for Toronto.
John Axford, making his first major league start after 537 relief appearances, allowed one hit and struck out three in three innings.
The Blue Jays were using all relievers for the game because they were down a starter after trading J.A. Happ to the New York Yankees.
Chicago starter Lucas Giolito allowed five runs, nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
The Blue Jays scored once in the first inning on singles by Curtis Granderson, Gurriel and Kendrys Morales.
They added two more runs in the second. Martin walked, Brandon Drury had an infield single, Granderson singled and Gurriel hit a two-run single.
Martin hit his eighth homer of the season in the third to increase the lead to 4-0.
Jake Petricka took over for Axford in the fourth inning and allowed Sanchez's sixth homer of the season.
The Blue Jays regained their four-run lead in the fifth on a double by Justin Smoak and an RBI single by Yangervis Solarte.
Delmonico hit his third homer of the season in the seventh against Tyler Clippard. Smith followed one out later with a single, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Leury Garcia.
--Field Level Media
Toronto | Chi. White Sox | |
John Axford | Player | Lucas Giolito |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
3.0 | IP | 4.1 |
3 | Strikeouts | 3 |
1 | Hits | 9 |
0.00 | ERA | 10.38 |
Toronto | Chi. White Sox | |
Russell Martin | Player | Kevan Smith |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 2 |
.667 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Toronto | 12 | 1 | 17 | .324 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Chi. White Sox | 12 | 2 | 21 | .353 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 |