Tied at six in the bottom of the tenth inning, Russell Martin hit a grounder to short which looked like Toronto’s third inning-ending double play of the night.
However, Jays’ nemesis Roughned Odor took the feed from Elvis Andus and proceeded to bounce his throw to first, allowing Josh Donaldson to scamper home for the winning run, touching the plate with a head-first slide.
With the 7-6 victory and a 3-0 series sweep over the Rangers, the Blue Jays will head to the American League Championship Series for the second year in a row.
After Matt Bush struck out four of the first six batters he faced, Donaldson led off the home half of the bonus frame with a bullet to right-center field for a double.
Texas countered with an intentional walk to Edwin Encarnacion and got Jose Bautista to chase a full-count fastball for the first out of the inning.
Manager Jeff Banister’s plan appeared to play out perfectly until Odor uncorked his throw, ending the Rangers bid to return the favour of an 0-2 series comeback -- which they were dealt by the Blue Jays last October.
The central division champs took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a walk, a stolen base and a pair of ground outs.
Toronto countered with three of its own in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run from Encarnacion and a solo shot by Russell Martin.
The Rangers pulled back to within one in the top of the third but again the Jays replied, scoring two more runs on three hits to take a 5-2 lead and chase starter Colby Lewis from the hill.
Texas stayed patient, drawing four walks around an Odor homer to eventually take a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.
But that’s when Troy Tulowitzki knotted the score once more.
The Blue Jays’ short stop slapped a one-out single to right and advanced to third on a pinch-hit double off of the bat of Melvin Upton. Three batters later with the bases juiced, Tulowitzki touched home on a passed ball off of the glove of Jonathan Lucroy to make it a 6-6 contest.
As they say, the rest is history.
The Blue Jays advance to the ALCS once more, becoming the first team in MLB history to win a playoff series on a walkoff error.
Toronto will battle the winner of Boston and Cleveland, who were rained out earlier in the day. Cleveland takes a 2-0 series lead into Fenway Park Monday night with the chance at a sweep as well.
First pitch in Massachusetts is slated for 6:08 p.m.
