Stroman's strong outing not enough as Blue Jays lose in 14
HOUSTON (AP) - Marcus Stroman pieced together his best performance of the season on Monday night.
However, his offense didn't support him, striking out 22 times.
Carlos Correa's RBI double in the 14th inning gave the Houston Astros a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
Stroman gave up one run and three hits, while striking out a career high 13 and walking one.
"That's the best I have ever seen him," Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin said. "Electric fastball. Cutter-slider was awesome. Curveball was good, and he mixed in some changeups, too. Overall, he looked composed on the mound. I told him he was looking like Pedro Martinez out there. He was nasty today."
Stroman said he felt relaxed, strong and had a good groove with Martin early on.
"I think it was the mix of pitches me and Russ had going," Stroman said. "I was hitting on my slider. I also my sinker going. Everything plays off my heater. Once that's down, I can use all my other pitches."
Jose Altuve, who homered earlier in the game, opened the 14th inning with a single to shallow left field off former teammate Scott Feldman (5-4), and Correa followed with his hit off the fence in right-center field.
Feldman was traded from the Astros to the Blue Jays earlier in the day.
"It was a little different, but you see some crazy stuff in baseball," Feldman said. "I've played long enough that it doesn't really affect you. I felt fine when I was out there. I made a couple bad pitches, and unfortunately, lost that game."
Martin tied the score with a leadoff homer in the ninth against Astros closer Will Harris, who has blown three of his last five save chances.
"We couldn't get any offense going other than that one home run by Russ," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "That was it."
The 22 strikeouts by Astros pitchers were the second-most in franchise history, one shy of the record set in 2003 against the Chicago Cubs.
"We strikeout," Gibbons said. "If you watch us, that's part of what we do. You play those extra innings against some pretty good arms, we are going to have some strikeouts. It's not ideal."
Houston got its ninth walk-off win this season, and 14th overall with its last at-bat.
Michael Feliz (7-1) pitched a perfect 14th inning, following Chris Devenski 4 1/3 perfect innings after entering the game in the ninth.
Altuve gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a two-out shot off Marcus Stroman into the first few rows of the Crawford Boxes for his 19th home run of the season.
Astros starter Doug Fister gave up four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in six scoreless innings. Fister has now allowed three runs or fewer in 17 of his 21 starts this season.
He was coming off one of his worst starts of the season, giving up six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings on July 26 against the New York Yankees.
TRADE DEADLINE
Blue Jays: Toronto acquired RHP Feldman from the Astros, LHP Francisco Liriano, C Reese McGuire and OF Harold Ramirez from the Pirates and RHP Mike Bolsinger from the Dodgers.
Astros: Houston made two acquisitions, getting RHP Lupe Chavez from the Blue Jays for Feldman and INF/OF Yordan Alvarez from the Dodgers for RHP Josh Fields.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Blue Jays: OF Ezequiel Carrera (left Achilles strain) was placed on the 15-day disabled list ... INF Ryan Goins (right forearm tightness) came back from a medical rehab assignment at Triple-A Buffalo and was removed from 15-day DL ... Josh Donaldson was held out of the lineup on Monday with left hamstring soreness but pinch hit in the 12th inning and stayed in to play third ... SS Troy Tulowitzki (thumb) was held out of the lineup
Astros: INF Marwin Gonzalez (right hand soreness) and CF Carlos Gomez (right hamstring strain) are day-to-day and were held out of the starting lineup.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: RHP R.A. Dickey (7-12, 4.66 ERA) gets the ball for the Blue Jays on Tuesday looking for his first win since July 10.
Astros: RHP Lance McCullers (6-4, 3.18 ERA) starts for the Astros on Tuesday coming off his second-straight double-digit strikeout performance and third in last five starts.