George Springer, Jesus Sanchez power Toronto Blue Jays past Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2

TORONTO — George Springer’s lead-off homer and Jesus Sanchez’s go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning led the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-2 victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.

The Blue Jays (25-27) won their season-high fourth game in a row. Toronto benefited from a strong six-inning outing from starter Patrick Corbin (2-1) and managed four runs off hard-throwing Pirates ace Paul Skenes (6-4).

In his 84-pitch effort, Corbin yielded a run on five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Skenes was touched for nine hits in five innings while fanning two and walking one.

Springer belted his 65th career lead-off homer down the left-field line. Sanchez’s 100th career double and Ernie Clement’s RBI single highlighted a three-inning sixth for Toronto.

Catcher Tyler Heineman smashed his first homer of the season to right field to open the seventh before 41,813 spectators at Rogers Centre.

Relievers Braydon Fisher and Jeff Hoffman pitched shutout innings in the seventh and ninth, respectively. Hoffman earned his fifth save for striking out the side.

Yariel Rodriguez surrendered a run in the eighth with two walks and a throwing error on a pick-off attempt to second base.

Pirates (26-26) manager Don Kelly was tossed from the game after some choice words for home-plate umpire Alan Porter in the sixth.

Takeaways

Blue Jays: A rainy afternoon kept the roof closed for the 26th straight time in 2026. The Rogers Centre’s latest date to open the roof is June 6, 2001, and again in 2019.

Pirates: Outfielder Bryan Reynolds celebrated his 1,000th career Major League Baseball game with a two-out, sixth-inning single and scored on Marcell Ozuna’s double to the right-field gap.

Key moment

After giving up back-to-back singles to begin the second inning, Corbin escaped with a strikeout, a fly to left and a pop-up to second. It was the first three of 14 consecutive outs for the southpaw.

Key stat

Springer’s lead-off homer ended Skenes’s streak of 15 shutout innings on the road.

Up next

Right-hander Dylan Cease (3-2) will start for Toronto in the series finale against Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller (4-2).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2026.

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press