Nathan Lukes belted a two-run homer in the 11th inning to fuel the visiting Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
Chase Shugart (2-1) retired the first two batters in the 11th inning before Lukes deposited a 3-2 sweeper over the wall in right-center field. Lukes’ homer was his sixth of the season and first since July 12.
Shugart permitted one earned run on two hits in two innings.
The late uprising made a winner out of Louis Varland (5-4), who allowed one unearned run in two innings. Lazaro Estrada retired the side in the 11th inning to secure his first career save.
Andres Gimenez’s sacrifice fly gave Toronto a 5-4 lead in the 10th before Luis Arraez answered with one of his own to forge a tie in the bottom of the inning.
The Blue Jays leveled the contest at 4-4 after Gimenez ripped a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. belted a solo homer in the first inning and had an RBI single in the third in his return to the lineup. The homer was Guerrero Jr.’s seventh of the season and first since July 11. He missed the previous three games due to tightness in his hamstring.
Philadelphia’s Trea Turner and Bryce Harper belted back-to-back homers to highlight a four-run sixth inning. Aaron Nola fanned Andres Gimenez and Brandon Valenzuela to reach 2,000 strikeouts for his career. Nola struck out five more batters in the game before exiting in the sixth inning.
Justin Crawford ripped an RBI triple for the Phillies, who have dropped the first two contests of this series and three of their last four overall.
Toronto’s Max Scherzer struck out four batters to raise his career total to 3,516, moving him past Hall of Famer Walter Johnson for 10th place all-time in Major League Baseball history.
