Walk-off caps Blue Jays' rally from 9-2 deficit

TORONTO -- Trailing 9-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, it looked like the Blue Jays were on their way to another loss behind another disappointing offensive effort. A couple of hours later, the Blue Jays stormed the field to celebrate Teoscar Hernández’s walk-off home run after a 10-9 12-inning win over the Rays at Rogers Centre.

Toronto launched four home runs between the eighth and ninth innings, including a three-run shot from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and two homers from Brandon Drury, to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. After scoring just six runs over the first four games of this homestand, it was the offensive explosion the Blue Jays had been waiting for.

• Box score

“You have no idea how happy it makes me to, obviously, win a game like this, but Brandon Drury, Teoscar, they had good days,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “They have the tools to do it, but they did it today. It’s great to see.”

Hernandez’s homer in the 12th -- his second of the night -- was the first walk-off home run of his career and gave the Blue Jays their first six-homer game since August 2017. That late surge from Toronto’s lineup wasn’t the result of a rah-rah speech in the dugout or a grand shift in strategy, but the result, Montoyo thinks, of a team that has simply kept pushing despite its recent struggles.

“We battled the whole game,” Hernandez said. “We didn’t put our heads down. I think that it’s always been like that. We always try to fight in the game, to get back, and that’s what we did today.”

The pair of big flies gave Hernandez six over 13 games since the All-Star Break. The physical tools are undeniably there, as Montoyo alluded to, but the oft-streaky 26-year-old is in the middle of one of his hot stretches for a lineup that certainly needs it.

“It feels good, really good,” Hernandez said. “It was my first one here. At first, I didn’t think it was going to go out, but thank God that it did. It was awesome."

Toronto starter Ryan Borucki lasted just two innings, as Tampa Bay hit him early and hit him hard. The left-hander allowed eight hits and two walks, with all six runs against him coming on a pair of loud three-run home runs in the second.

Borucki’s rocky outing came on the back of his debut last weekend in Detroit, where he limited the damage to two runs over 4 2/3 innings but struggled with his control. The rust is understandable and, to a point, expected. Borucki made just four rehab outings -- two with Triple-A Buffalo -- and is behind Major League hitters who have now had 100-plus games to find their stroke.

“You can be down about that, but it’s always about the team,” said Borucki, whose focus was on his control of the strike zone after his start. “It was really cool to see all of the boys perform out there and get this win.”

The good news for Borucki is that he has plenty of open road in front of him. Toronto has already reached deep into its pitching depth in the upper Minors, and things are expected to get even thinner, with reports swirling around Marcus Stroman ahead of Wednesday’s Trade Deadline. Another 10 starts down the stretch would give Borucki an opportunity to get back to his 2018 form, when he posted a 3.87 ERA over 17 starts, but it’s clearly going to be a process, not an immediate result.