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Saenz walk-off homer caps comeback victory

Jun 9, 2007 - 7:34 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- For the Los Angeles Dodgers, turnabout is fair play.

Pinch hitter Olmedo Saenz hit a two-run walk-off homer as the Dodgers posted a 4-3 victory in 10 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

One night after losing a four-run lead in the ninth to the Padres, the Dodgers turned a late deficit around on the Blue Jays, notching their 11th comeback victory of the season, but they had to rally twice to do so.

"Sometimes, it's good to come back home," Saenz said. "We're more relaxed and we play good baseball here."

Saenz, the second batter of the 10th inning, followed a walk to rookie Tony Abreu and took a fastball from Toronto closer Jeremy Accardo (1-2) over the fence in left for the game-winner, capping off the second comeback of the contest for the Dodgers.

"I wasn't trying to hit a home run," Saenz said. "I was just trying to hit the ball in the gap to tie the game. We needed the win."

Following a one-out double in the seventh from Jeff Kent and trailing 1-0, the Dodgers grabbed the lead as Luis Gonzalez lined a pitch from Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan over the fence in right for his second home run in as many days, giving the Dodgers a short-lived 2-1 advantage.

However, Saenz's heroics were needed as closer Takashi Saito, who returned from a five-day absence due to a strained left hamstring, surrendered a one-out solo homer to Matt Stairs to blow his first save chance in 26 opportunities to tie the game in the ninth at 2-2. Gregg Zaun's RBI single in the top of the 10th pushed Toronto out in front, 4-3, making necessary the second rally.

"It's great to see [Zaun] come back and get that hit for us," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's very valuable to us with his bat."

Rudy Seanez (3-1) retired the final batter in the top of the 10th to get the win.

The late rallies from both teams wasted two fine efforts from the starting pitchers. McGowan, who set down 16 straight batters before Kent's double in the seventh, yielded two runs and four hits over seven frames.

"He was awesome, he's really turning it on," Gibbons said. "He looked confident and when you're confident you relax more and pitch better."

Brad Penny nearly matched McGowan pitch for pitch, as 62 of his 87 pitches were for strikes and 16 of the outs he registered came after the righthander threw three or fewer pitches. Last season's All-Star Game starter for the National League lasted 7 2/3 innings, as he allowed just one run and five hits, striking out seven.

"With American League teams it is harder because you don't really know them, I just go out with the same approach every night," Penny said. " It doesn't matter what their strength is, if you pitch your strength you'll get them out."