Ernie Clement’s walk-off single leads Blue Jays to back-to-back wins over Oakland Athletics

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Published Mar 28, 2026  •  Last updated 3 minutes ago  •  6 minute read

Blue Jays’ Ernie Clement celebrates his walk-off RBI single with teammates against the Athletics during the eleventh inning at the Rogers Centre last night. Photo by Mark Blinch /Getty Images

Game 2 of 162 games just shouldn’t be this stressful. The Toronto Blue Jays, however, are proving they’re up to the task, winning for the second time in a row in comeback style, this time with an 8-7 win in 11 innings.

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Hot on the heels of a walk-off win in the season opener Friday night, the Jays appeared to have a handle on this one early with Dylan Cease dominating the visiting Oakland A’s.

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Cease, in his first regular-season start since signing the richest free-agent contract in Blue Jays history, struck out 12 in his 5 1/3 innings but still left the game tied at one as light-tossing A’s starter Jeffrey Springs matched him, at least in terms of limiting runs against.

The game took a handful of turns from that point on with the Jays, some of them the truly unbelievable, you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it, before pulling this one off in 11 innings on an Ernie Clement walk-off single.

The whole season can’t wind up being this entertaining, but for two games the fanbase in Toronto is getting more than its money’s worth.

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Following are our takeaways from the game:

INTO THE FIRE AND RIGHT INTO A BEER SHOWER

Spencer Miles just getting it to the Majors given what he has been through was a story for the ages. He could have written another book just off his Major League debut.

Multiple surgeries, including the dreaded Tommy John procedure, after being drafted in the fourth round by the San Francisco Giants in 2022, limited Miles to just 14 2/3 innings of minor-league experience before he was selected by the Jays in the Rule 5 draft last December.

The Jays made the decision to keep Miles following spring training and talked about easing him into the mix.

Well, “easing him in” turned out to be a tie game in Game 2 of the season in the 11th inning. As per MLB’s extra-innings rules, his debut came with a runner already on second in scoring position.

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All Miles did was erase the lead runner on a comebacker that he handled cleanly, got his first big league strikeout retiring Max Muncy and then after a walk got Denzel Clarke to pop out down the right field line.

Miles couldn’t really celebrate that first strikeout or that clean inning because he was the last reliever the Jays had available and if the team didn’t score he would have had to go back out for another inning.

Clement took care of that ensuring Miles first Major League appearance came with not just that first strikeout but also a win.

And waiting for him in the clubhouse after the game was a beer shower courtesy of his teammates.

“A lot of first times for me today,” a smiling Miles said, afterwards.

WHAT ARE THE 2026 JAYS SHOWING US?

Just two games in, the Jays are showing that while the calendar and some personnel have changed, the core that made this team special last year is still intact.

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“I think it’s great to see we are battling, we’re fighting back, we’re picking guys up,” Saturday’s hero Clement said. “That’s what was special about last year’s team and what will be special about this team. We’re never out of it. We’re going to battle and get it done.”

Small sample size for sure, but everything Clement said to this point is true.

The Jays were up early twice in this one but then had to fight back from a 6-2 deficit over the final three innings of regulation. They chipped away and got the game into extras and then had to rally one more time when the A’s scored in the 10th to take the lead.

HOW DO YOU GET ERNIE CLEMENT’S ATTENTION?

This one is an easy one. Just suggest to him that you don’t believe he can beat you, or at least that he’s the lesser of two options that night. That’s essentially what the Oakland A’s did to Clement on Saturday walking Daulton Varsho intentionally in front of him and saying they would rather pitch to Clement with the potential winning run at second.

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Clement was asked if he took it personally when something like that occurs.

“How could you not?” Clement said. “That just kind of fuels it. Umm, nah, that has happened a bunch. Metrically that’s the right play, analytically it’s probably the right play but I’m well prepared and well equipped to handle those situations.”

WHAT ABOUT THIS CEASE GUY?

Dylan Cease was almost an afterthought following this one but there was nothing forgettable about his performance.

The most expensive free agent the Jays have signed in history made his Toronto debut a memorable one striking out 12 in just 5 1/3 innings. He wowed the crowd of 40,268 hitting 100 mph on the scoreboard pitch clock and basically hovered around that number throughout most of his start.

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Cease was everything the Jays could have hoped in his debut.

Even before it began he got a taste of how quickly this team’s fanbase can fall in love with a player as he got a standing ovation just walking out to the bullpen to do his warmup. Normally in those circumstances the day’s starter is so focussed on the task at hand he barely hears anything, but Cease couldn’t pretend actually waving to the crowd a few times in advance of the start.

“I guess it just felt right in the moment,” he said. “I don’t know, I was kind of awkwardly smiling so I figured I might as well give them a wave.”

ABOUT THAT SEVENTH INNING

The A’s put a scare into the Jays in the seventh with a five-run outburst, no question. But it was how they got there that had many scratching their heads. First reliever Mason Fluharty somehow managed to get hit by two comebacker grounders, both of which ricocheted off him towards third for a pair of infield singles.

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The second one caught him flush on the knee, ending Fluharty’s day.

Manager John Schneider joked afterwards his young left-hander is going to have to start practising getting out of the way of those comebackers and let his defence behind him do some of the work.

That brought on another hard-luck lefty in Brendon Little who allowed both baserunners to advance on a double steal before he fell victim to a swinging bunt that scored the first run of the inning. A walk later Little gave up a grand slam to Shea Langeliers putting the A’s up 6-2.

Schneider had no issue with the pitch Langeliers hit out but probably wasn’t overly happy with the double steal.

As for Langeliers, he’s off to the hottest start in baseball with three homers in his first two games and has Schneider’s full attention.

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“I believe it was 1-0 curveball and when you look at the damage (Little’s) curveball has done against him, it’s very, very little,” Schneider said. “So I mean we got to figure out Shea Langeliers for (Sunday). Their top of the order is no joke. He put a good swing on a decent pitch and you got to tip your cap to him.”

QUICK HITS

Schneider confirmed he had a little in-game chat with Vladdy Guerrero after the latter made the third out of the first inning trying to take third on a Kazuma Okamoto single.

Schneider said the gist of his talk was just make sure he was aware of time and outs and concluded by saying his slugger probably wishes he could have that one back. There might also be a conversation coming or already conducted about using the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system too early in a game. Teams are allowed two challenges per game but as long as they are correct in their challenge they don’t lose one of their two. Guerrero used one up in his first inning at-bat in a situation that didn’t really warrant it.

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