TORONTO - With the Toronto Blue Jays in a big hole, Yunel Escobar told his teammates he had a feeling that not only were they going to make a comeback, but he was going to win the game.
The shortstop made good on his word in a big way.
Escobar won the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th and Toronto twice came back to defeat the Oakland Athletics 7-6 Tuesday.
"He mentioned to a couple of the guys, including Carlos (Villanueva) and (Edwin) Encarnacion, that he is going to win the game tonight for us," Escobar's translator said.
The Blue Jays did it without right-fielder Jose Bautista, who was tending to what the club referred to as a family matter.
Bautista, who led the majors with 54 homers in 2010, is not expected to rejoin the team until Friday in Anaheim, although there is a chance he could return earlier.
Oakland took an early 5-0 lead against left-handed starter Jo-Jo Reyes, but sloppy defence allowed the Blue Jays to tie the game with a four-run sixth against Brandon McCarthy, who allowed five runs, four earned, in eight innings.
Escobar's first homer of the season came on the first pitch from reliever Grant Balfour (0-1), who was trying to protect a 6-5 lead provided by Josh Willingham's leadoff homer against Jason Frasor (1-0) in the top if the 10th.
Former Athletic Rajai Davis led off the inning against Balfour with a single.
"That's always fun, winning in that fashion, not just because it's Oakland," said Davis who returned after missing two games with an ankle injury.
Escobar said he was thinking more about advancing the speedy Davis than hitting a home run, but Balfour's fastball was just too inviting and he hit it over the right-field fence for his second career walk-off homer. His other one came June 2008, against the Florida Marlins when he was with the Atlanta Braves.
"It couldn't have worked out any better for them," Balfour said. "A hit and a bomb and walking off like that. It's definitely not the way I saw it going out there."
The A's (1-3) scored five runs on nine hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings against Reyes. The relievers, led by 2 2/3 strong innings from Villanueva, held firm and that allowed the Blue Jays (3-1) to come back.
"My job is to control the damage," Villanueva said. "I thought as a whole we did a great job at that. When I came in after my first inning Yunel told me: 'Keep the game right there and we're going to find a way to win it tonight."'
Jays manager John Farrell said Reyes' problem was "more location rather than stuff."
Oakland took a 3-0 lead in the third on five hits, three of them doubles.
Andy LaRoche led off with a double to left and just beat the throw to second by Travis Snider. Conor Jackson doubled to left with two out for a run. Willingham singled him to third.
Mark Ellis drove a double to left, but was beat by Snider's throw at second. However, Jays second baseman Aaron Hill had the ball pop put of his glove on the tag and David DeJesus scored the third run with an infield single to short.
Oakland scored twice in the fourth as Kevin Kouzmanoff opened with a double and LaRoche singled. Reyes walked Daric Barton with one out and the left-hander was replaced by Villanueva. Jackson walked to load the bases and Willingham hit a sacrifice fly to centre.
Escobar bounced a single to centre with one out in the fourth for the Blue Jays first hit. Adam Lind's single moved him to third, and he scored when Hill's grounder forced Lind at second.
The Blue Jays scored four in the sixth, helped by errors by third baseman Kouzmanoff and McCarthy, to tie the game 5-5.
Davis started it with a double. Kouzmanoff was originally charged with an error on Escobar's grounder that later was scored as a single. It put runners at the corners. Lind's pop foul near the stands turned into a sacrifice fly after Kouzmanoff made an awkward catch and spiked the ball into the turf on his attempted throw.
Hill singled in a run and took second on the pitcher's errant pickoff attempt. He held second on Kouzmanoff's throwing error that allowed Juan Rivera to reach first. Encarnacion doubled in one run. Snider's groundout scored the tying run.
"You can't really give teams extra outs," Willingham said. "We just gave them a little bit too much. You've got to give them credit, they took advantage of our mistakes. We had a couple plays that we normally make. We didn't and we gave them a little breathing room. They hit a couple doubles after that and got right back into the game."
Notes: Right-hander Brandon Morrow will start Thursday with Class-A Dunedin in the first of an expected two minor-league rehabilitation outings. He went on the disabled list late in spring training with a mild inflammation of the flexor muscle of the right elbow. Farrell expects Morrow to throw from 50 to 55 pitches in the first start. ....Right-handed reliever Frankie Francisco also is scheduled to pitch Thursday in Dunedin as he comes back from sore biceps and chest muscles. ...Right-hander Octavio Dotel who also is in Florida could rejoin the team next week as he comes back from a strained hamstring that put him on the disabled list. ...Right-hander Jesse Litsch is scheduled to start Wednesday against Oakland left-hander Dallas Braden.
