{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
Major League Baseball
Toronto 11, LA Angels 10
When: 1:07 PM ET, Sunday, July 30, 2017
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature: 82°
Umpires: Home - Sean Barber, 1B - Ted Barrett, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - John Tumpane
Attendance: 46852

TORONTO -- Once was not enough for Steve Pearce.

After hitting a game-ending grand slam Thursday against the Oakland Athletics, he did it again against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon.

This one was even more dramatic, capping a seven-run ninth inning rally that gave the Blue Jays an 11-10 victory to prevent a three-game sweep by the Angels.

"It was a crazy day, you don't see that coming," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Pearce is the third player in major league history with two game-ending grand slams in the same season, joining Cy Williams in 1926 and Jim Presley in 1986.

"Feels great," Pearce said. "Really hasn't sunk in yet. I actually know one of them. So, it's nice to be a part of it with him."

The six-run, ninth-inning disadvantage was the biggest the Blue Jays have overcome to win. It also was their third straight victory with a walkoff homer.

"You just hope not to be down that much," Pearce said. "We just kept hitting and hitting. ... we kept fighting all the way to the end. We showed great resilience as a team."

Ezequiel Carrera and Kevin Pillar also homered for Toronto.

Angels designated hitter Albert Pujols had two homers and a single for four RBIs to end a 0-for-24 drought.

The Angels fell to 44-2 when leading after eight innings.

"I don't think we let anything slip away," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I think those guys took it."

Angels reliever Brooks Pounders allowed a leadoff walk to Ryan Goins, Pillar's 12th homer of the season and a double to Rob Refsnyder in the ninth inning before being replaced by Bud Norris (1-4).

Carrera singled to put runners at the corners. Russell Martin hit an RBI infield single to shortstop. Justin Smoak grounded out to first, pushing the runners to second and third. Kendrys Morales walked to load the bases and Darwin Barney ran for him.

Pearce hit his 10th homer of the season on a 2-0 two-seam fastball to left field.

"You've got to go out there and attack that at-bat," Pearce said. "I went up there and just looked for my pitch. He missed a couple pitches pretty bad early so I was able to sit on my pitch."

"I made a bad pitch in a hitter's count with the bases loaded," Norris said. "I made a mistake to a good hitter. I made some really good pitches, made some bad pitches. The one that I didn't make got punished."

Matt Dermody (1-0) allowed one hit, one walks and one run in three innings of relief to get his first career win.

"No, you never see that coming with that big a deficit," Gibbons said. "You get to a certain point of a game and it's survival basically. You're trying to not have to use certain guys in the bullpen to finish the game. But we had some guys give us key outs ... It was pretty fun to watch."

Angels starter Jesse Chavez who had two different stints with the Blue Jays, allowed seven hits, two walks and four runs in five innings.

Toronto starter Cesar Valdez allowed seven hits and seven runs (six earned) in two-plus innings.

Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first inning, following Mike Trout's single.

Carrera led off the bottom of the first with his eighth homer of the season.

The Angels (51-55) scored five in the third. Kaleb Cowart tripled and Yunel Escobar doubled. Trout was intentionally walked and Pujols hit an RBI single. Pujols was safe on a high throw from second baseman Refsnyder on an attempted force play on Kole Calhoun's grounder. Andrelton Simmons hit a two-run double and Ben Revere singled home Shane Robinson, who ran for Calhoun, who had a sore hamstring.

The Blue Jays (49-56) scored three in the bottom of the third. Carrera, Martin and Smoak singled to produce one run. Morales hit a sacrifice fly, Pearce doubled and Miguel Montero drove in a run with a ground out to second.

The Angels scored an unearned run in the fifth against Mike Bolsinger. Luis Valbuena walked and was forced at second on Revere's grounder. Revere stole second, took third on catcher Montero's throwing error and slid home on Martin Maldonado's sacrifice fly to left.

Pujols hit his 16th homer of the season in the sixth to increase the lead to 9-4.

The lead reached 10-4 when Valbuena hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth to score Robinson, who hit an infield single, stole second and took third on Montero's throwing error.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't finish it off," Scioscia said. "(Pujols) put it together today. Some of the pitches he was missing before, he didn't miss this afternoon. (Pearce) was patient in that situation, waited for a pitch and didn't miss it."

NOTES: Toronto RF Jose Bautista and 3B Josh Donaldson did not play Sunday. C Russell Martin started at third base and OF Ezequiel Carrera started in right field. Martin appeared in his 1,500th career game Saturday when he was used as a pinch hitter. ... Angels RHP Ricky Nolasco (4-12, 5.09 ERA) will start Tuesday against Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (8-6, 3.17) to open a three-game series in Anaheim against the Philadelphia Phillies after a day off Monday. ... Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrada (4-7, 5.43) is scheduled to face White Sox RHP James Shields (2-3, 5.86) in the opener of a three-game series at Chicago.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
LA Angels   Toronto
Jesse Chavez Player Cesar Valdez
No Decision W/L No Decision
5.0 IP 2.0
2 Strikeouts 2
7 Hits 7
7.20 ERA 27.00
Hitting
LA Angels   Toronto
Albert Pujols Player Ezequiel Carrera
3 Hits 3
4 RBI 1
2 HR 1
9 TB 6
.600 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
LA Angels 14 2 24 .378 19 6 10 3 2 0
Toronto 12 3 23 .353 15 4 11 6 0 3