The summer of dramatic games in Sahlen Field continues for the Toronto Blue Jays.

One out from a demoralizing defeat, Randal Grichuk's two-run homer to dead center field in the bottom of the 10th Friday night brought the Jays from behind and gave them a stirring 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Grichuk crushed a 1-0 pitch from Cole Sulser and outfielder Cedric Mullins climbed the fence to no avail. It was Grichuk's ninth homer of the season – all since Aug. 14 – and gave the Jays a 16-14 record at the season's halfway mark. They are just a half-game behind the New York Yankees for second place in the American League East, after the Yankees were swept in a doubleheader by the Mets in the Bronx. 

"We're excited. We fully expect to be in the playoffs," Grichuk said. "That's how confident we are what kind of talent we have."

The Jays are 6-4 in Buffalo and three of the wins have come via walkoff hits. Seven of the 10 games here have been decided by two runs or less.

"There was a lot of celebration postgame. It was a wild game obviously,” Grichuk said. “(After trailing) we know we’re not out of it yet. In these extra innings one swing of the bat can tie it up and one swing of the bat can win it. Luckily, it went out way on that side. I barreled it well. My hands got a little bit away from me but I knew it had a chance."

"All the games have been exciting just like this one," said manager Charlie Montoyo. "We're playing good baseball."

Grichuk's bomb was Toronto's third homer of the night. The Blue Jays took a 2-0 lead in the fourth as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez homered on back-to-back pitches. Guerrero extended his hitting streak to a career-high 10 games with the first opposite-field home run of his career to right, while Hernandez's 430-foot drive to deep left-center was his 12th of the year, tying Chicago's Jose Abreu for the American League lead.

Baltimore had forced extra innings on Renato Nunez's no-doubt solo shot to left in the eighth off closer Jordan Romano, who left one pitch later with a right middle finger injury. The Orioles took the lead in the 10th on Hanser Alberto's RBI bloop single to center, his fourth hit of the night. They couldn't hold on.

Toronto has 26 home runs in its 10 games here. The Jays entered the game with a .313 batting average at home, the highest in the majors this season. The Jays were also the leaders at home in on-base percentage (.383), slugging percentage (.584) and OPS (.967).

Long time, no see

The game marked the first time a Baltimore team had played a Major League game in Buffalo since Sept. 8, 1915, when the Baltimore Terrapins were swept in a Federal League doubleheader, 4-0 and 5-4, by the Buffalo Blues in the season finale. This series marks the first regular-season games played by the Orioles in a non-MLB park in their 67-year history.

Around the horn

It was the Blue Jays' MLB-high ninth extra-inning game of the season and they are 4-5 in them. They are 8-5 in one-run affairs, also the most in the bigs. ... Grichuk also made a spectacular diving catch in left-center field in the first inning off Anthony Santander. ... Thursday's postponed game against Boston will be made up Sept. 4 as part of a doubleheader in Fenway Park. ... Toronto second baseman Cavan Biggio extended his on-base streak to 20 games by drawing a third-inning walk.

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