St. John’s baseball: Toronto Blue Jays pick up Joe Panik in extra innings

Former St. John’s baseball star Joe Panik was picked up by his teammates in extra innings on Friday night.

Joe Panik is looking like he is starting to round into form as the halfway point of this strange 2020 Major League Baseball season rolls on.

The former Johnnie was 2-for-3 back on August 25 against the Boston Red Sox with one walk, the most hits he has recored in a game all season and he tried to continue that momentum into his next start on August 28 against the Baltimore Orioles.

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Panik ended his game 1-for-4, but the sole hit was his first extra base hit of the season, a double in his first at-bat of the game against Orioles starter John Means.

The other three at-bats resulted in two strikeouts and a pop out but it was the pop out in the 10th inning that could have been costly as the Toronto Blue Jays trailed 5-4 heading into the bottom of the 10th and with the new extra inning rules in MLB this season, a runner was place at second base.

Panik tried to advance Reese McGuire to third with a sacrifice bunt but he popped the bunt back to the pitcher, Cole Sulser, which resulted in the first out of the inning.

Leadoff man Cavan Biggio then lined out to center field but down to their final out, Randal Grichuk stepped to the plate and launched a ball deep into the Albany, New York night for a two-run, walk-off home run as the Blue Jays came away with a 5-4 victory.

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The win improved Toronto’s record to 16-14 on the season, which is third place in the American League East, only a half a game behind the New York Yankees for second place, which would automatically qualify the team for the postseason and four and a half games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place.

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The Blue Jays will continue its four game series with the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday evening with first pitch slated for 6:37pm EST.