Varsho, Lukes help Blue Jays beat Padres 7-6 in 11 innings; Toronto completes sweep

CTV News

22-05-2025

Toronto Blue Jays' Daulton Varsho (5) safely dives back into third base during first inning MLB baseball action against the San Diego Padres in Toronto on Thursday, May 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO — Nathan Lukes' RBI single in the bottom of the 11th gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday afternoon to complete the three-game sweep.
Daulton Varsho's triple to lead off the inning drove in Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who started on second base, to tie the game 6-6.
Bowden Francis earned a no-decision, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks in four innings of work, striking out four. Yariel Rodriguez, Mason Fluharty, Chad Green and Yimi Garcia held the Padres scoreless through the next four innings, but titular closer Jeff Hoffman blew the save in the ninth, giving up a two-run homer to Gavin Sheets.
Sheets almost single-handedly kept San Diego (27-21) in the game. He hit a two-run homer in the first and then another in the ninth, scoring Jackson Merrill both times. He added an RBI single in the 11th to give San Diego a brief 6-5 lead, but the Padres ultimately lost their sixth game in a row.
Luis Arraez hit what appeared to be a game-winning RBI single for San Diego in the top of the 10th, but Jonatan Clase tied it 5-5 for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single of his own.
Stephen Kolek gave up four runs, three earned, on seven hits and three walks but struck out six over six innings.
Takeaways
Padres: Sheets's five RBIs were the most he's had in a game all season. It nearly matched the seven he had in the entire month of April for the Padres. He has a .286 average, eight home runs and 28 RBIs on the season.
Blue Jays: Francis was pulled in favour of Rodriguez despite only throwing 77 pitches. Francis's hardest pitch was a 94.4 m.p.h. four-seam fastball to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the first inning in the first at-bat of the game. He's lost 0.5 m.p.h. from that pitch compared to last season's average velocity.
Key moment
Varsho's run-scoring fielder's choice in the third could've been an inning-ending double play, but the chopper glanced off Sheets' glove and dribbled into shallow right, allowing Varsho to reach second and Tyler Heineman to score.
Key stat
Rodriguez hasn't allowed a run in eight consecutive appearances, a total of 11 scoreless innings. He struck out three consecutive batters in the fifth, including all-stars Fernando Tatis Jr. and Arraez at the top of San Diego's order.
Up next
Friday will be a bullpen day for the Blue Jays as they begin a series in Tampa Bay against the Rays. Toronto manager John Schneider said that long reliever Eric Lauer (1-0) would play a significant role in the game.
Drew Rasmussen (2-4) will take the mound for Tampa Bay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2025.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press