Rangers-Blue Jays ALDS Game 5: DYK?
The Blue Jays capped off their American League Division Series comeback with a dramatic, series-clinching 6-3 victory over the Rangers in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre.
The game not only featured one of the crazier innings in postseason history, but plenty of history was made along the way. Here's a look at some of the top facts and figures to come out of the game that clinched Toronto's first postseason series victory since the 1993 World Series. Game 1 of the AL Championship Series against the Royals is Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET (FOX/Sportsnet).
:: ALDS: Rangers vs. Blue Jays -- Results ::
• The Blue Jays became just the third team to win a best-of-five postseason series after losing each of the first two games of the series at home. The only other teams to overcome a 2-0 deficit, with both losses coming at home, were the Yankees in the 2001 ALDS against the A's and the Giants in the 2012 National League Division Series against the Reds. The Yanks would go on to lose the '01 World Series, while San Francisco won the '12 Fall Classic.
• At just 20 years old, Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna became the second-youngest player to record a save in postseason history. The only pitcher to record a save at a younger age is Don Gullett, who notched two saves at the age of 19 for the Reds in the 1970 NLCS. Osuna, however, is the youngest to earn a save in a winner-take-all postseason game.
Video: TEX@TOR Gm5: Rangers, Blue Jays play memorable Game 5
• The other two pitchers used by Toronto in Wednesday's victory were 24-year-old starter Marcus Stroman and 23-year-old reliever Aaron Sanchez. That makes the Blue Jays just the second team in postseason history to win a series-clinching game -- and the first of the winner-take-all variety -- while using at least three pitchers, all age 24 or younger. The only other team to do so was the 2013 Cardinals, who eliminated the Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS behind then-22-year-old starter Michael Wacha. He handed the game over to fellow 22-year-old Carlos Martinez before Trevor Rosenthal (then 23) finished off the 9-0 victory.
• Osuna also became just the 16th pitcher -- and by far the youngest -- all time to strike out at least four batters in fewer than two innings in a postseason game. The youngest pitcher to do so previously was Danys Baez, who struck out four batters over 1 2/3 innings for the Indians in Game 5 of the 2001 ALDS against the Mariners at the age of 24.
• That save situation was made possible by Jose Bautista's go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bautista's blast was only the 11th go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later of a winner-take-all postseason game -- and only the second with at least two runners on base. The other was Hal Smith's three-run homer that put the Pirates ahead of the Yankees, 9-7, in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. The Yankees then rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth before Bill Mazeroski hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth, meaning that one game alone accounted for two of those 11 go-ahead home runs.
Video: Must C Clutch: Bautista's blast puts Blue Jays ahead
• Bautista's homer came one inning after fellow Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion hit a towering game-tying home run in the sixth. By finishing the game 2-for-2 with the home run and a pair of walks, Encarnacion joined Babe Ruth as the only players in a winner-take-all postseason game to homer and not be retired even once in at least four plate appearances. Ruth went 1-for-1 with a solo homer and four walks in Game 7 of the 1926 World Series.
Video: TEX@TOR Gm5: Encarnacion ties it with a long home run
• The Rangers' loss snapped a streak of winning 11 consecutive games started by Cole Hamels, dating back to the regular season. Prior to Wednesday, the last time they had lost a game started by Hamels was Aug. 7 against the Mariners, just his second start with Texas after being acquired from the Phillies.
• This was also the first time in five tries that Hamels' team did not emerge victorious in a potential series-clinching game started by the ace. Each of Hamels' previous four starts in potential series-clinching games came with the Phillies, with Philadelphia successfully closing out the 2010 NLDS, 2009 NLCS, 2008 World Series and 2008 NLCS, all in games started by Hamels.
• It was a bit of a tough-luck loss for Hamels, who was saddled with three unearned runs following three seventh-inning errors behind him. Only four other starting pitchers -- Kris Medlen (2012 NL Wild Card Game), John Candelaria (1986 ALCS Game 7), Waite Hoyt (1926 World Series Game 7) and Walter Johnson (1925 World Series Game 7) -- had ever allowed at least three unearned runs in a do-or-die postseason game.
• Speaking of those errors, the Rangers became the first team in postseason history to make three errors in a single inning of a sudden-death postseason game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Video: Must C Classic: Three errors lead to four runs in 7th