Joey Loperfido, Addison Barger hit back-to-back homers in 9th as Blue Jays rally to beat Angels 5-4

TORONTO (AP) — Joey Loperfido and Addison Barger hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Friday night.

Toronto trailed 4-3 heading into the ninth against Los Angeles right-hander Roansy Contreras (2-3), but Loperfido tied it with his fourth home run of the year before Barger won it with his fourth.

It was the fourth time this season the Blue Jays hit consecutive home runs.

The blown save was Contreras’ second in four chances.

Toronto’s Chad Green (4-3) worked one inning for the win as the Blue Jays extended their winning streak over the Angels to five.

Angels right-hander Jack Kochanowicz allowed three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings, leaving after Loperfido doubled to begin the seventh. Kochanowicz walked none and struck out one.

Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt allowed four runs and four hits in six innings. Bassitt walked two and struck out six.

All four of the Angels' runs came in the second inning. Leadoff batter Kevin Pillar was hit by a pitch and scored on Anthony Rendon’s double into the left field corner.

Niko Kavadas walked and both runners advanced on a double steal before scoring on Jo Adell’s two-out double. Taylor Ward capped the inning with an RBI single.

Toronto cut the deficit in half in the fourth, when Alejandro Kirk’s groundout drove in a run and Ernie Clement added a two-out RBI single.

Kirk added an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-3.

ROSTER MOVES

Los Angeles selected the contract of RHP Ryan Zeferjahn from Triple-A Salt Lake. RHP Mike Baumann was designated for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Angels OF Mickey Moniak was held out of the starting lineup but could return Saturday, manager Ron Washington said. Moniak left Thursday’s game in the third inning after being hit on the left elbow by a pitch.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays RHP Bowden Francis (6-3, 4.38 ERA) takes a five-game unbeaten streak into Saturday’s scheduled start against Angels RHP Carson Fulmer (0-4, 4.24). Francis is 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA in his past five outings.

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis reacts after Los Angeles Angels Taylor Ward hits a single during second inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jack Kochanowicz walks back to the dug out at the end of fourth inning during a baseball game against Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis reacts after walking Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Niko Kavadas during second-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels Nolan Schanuel is grounded out at second base by Toronto Blue Jays short stop Ernie Clement during first inning of a baseball in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels Nolan Schanuel is out at second base by Toronto Blue Jays short stop Ernie Clement during first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Kevin Pillar walks back to the dug out at the end of fourth inning during a baseball game against Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels Kevin Pillar rounds the bases to score off an RBI double from Los Angeles Angels Anthony Rendon during second inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Friday, August 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt works against Los Angeles Angels during fifth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Los Angeles Angels ' Jo Adell slides into second base after hitting a two-RBI double against the Toronto Blue Jays during second-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays Ernie Clement hits an RBI single off Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jack Kochanowicz during fourth inning during a baseball game in Toronto, Friday Aug. 23, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

BOSTON (AP) — A study that explores the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and one that looks at the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement.

Held less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine’s website to make people laugh and think. Winners received a transparent box containing historic items related to Murphy’s Law — the theme of the night — and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Actual Nobel laureates handed the winners their prizes.

“While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an e-mail interview.

The ceremony started with Kees Moliker, winner of 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving out safety instructions. His prize was for a study that documented the existence of homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks.

“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”

After that, someone came on stage wearing a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask. Soon, they were inundated with people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.

Then, the awards began — several dry presentations which were interrupted by a girl coming on stage and repeatedly yelling “Please stop. I'm bored.” The awards ceremony was also was broken up by an international song competition inspired by Murphy's Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.

The winners were honored in 10 categories, including for peace and anatomy. Among them were scientists who showed a vine from Chile imitates the shapes of artificial plants nearby and another study that examined whether the hair on people's heads in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as someone's hair in the Southern Hemisphere.

Other winners include a group of scientists who showed that fake medicine that causes side effects can be more effective than fake medicine that doesn't cause side effects and one showing that some mammals are cable of breathing through their anus — winners who came on stage wearing a fish-inspired hats.

Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon-missile study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.

“I want to thank you for finally acknowledging his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for putting the record straight.”

James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, accepted the physics prize for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.

“I discovered that a live fish moved more than a dead fish but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout towed behind a stick also flaps its tail to the beat of the current like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, recapturing the energy in its environment. A dead fish does live fish things.”

Professor James Liao displays a stuffed fish while accepting a prize for physics for demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A team of researchers perform a demonstration during a performance showing that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus while accepting the 2024 Ig Nobel prize in physiology at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

People in the audience throw paper airplanes toward the stage during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE - Students walk past the "Great Dome" atop Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)