Blue Jays homer seven times, lose vs. Marlins; Bo Bichette also makes history as part of wild slugfest

The Toronto Blue Jays made dubious history on Wednesday against the Miami Marlins, losing a 14-11 slugfest in what was their second "home" game to be played in Buffalo, New York. The Blue Jays became the first team in Major League Baseball history to lose a game in which they recorded 18 hits and launched seven home runs, according to the experts at STATS Inc.

Because you might've passed on watching the Marlins play the Blue Jays in favor of some other contest, allow us to highlight five other tidbits from what was the wildest game of the night.

1. Blue Jays' outburst was total team effort

It's hard to get 18 hits and seven home runs as a team if you're relying on one or two batters to do all the heavy lifting. Predictably, then, the Blue Jays received contributions from across the board on Wednesday night.

Eight different Blue Jays hitters recorded at least one hit, and six Toronto hitters had multiple hits. The Blue Jays also had six players homer: Travis Shaw (twice), Teoscar Hernandez, Rowdy Tellez, Danny Jansen, Vladimir Guerrero, and Bo Bichette, who made his own history.

2. Bichette has a night to remember

Per STATS Inc., Bichette became the first shortstop in the modern era to reach base six times, hit a homer, and steal two bases in the same game. Bichette had five hits on the evening, including his fourth home run of the season. That blast came in the eighth inning. 

What kind of impact can a single huge game have on a batter's stats? Bichette entered the night hitting .286/.314/.551. He's now batting .352/.386/.648. 

3. Marlins take opposite approach

Given that Toronto put on a Home Run Derby, it would be fair to think that the Marlins did the same. They did not. Rather, the Marlins recorded just one extra-base hit all night: a three-run homer from Brian Anderson in the first inning. Miami's other 13 hits were singles.

Jonathan Villar, Matt Joyce, and Jon Berti each had two-hit nights, while Jesus Aguilar recorded three knocks. It should be noted that the Marlins also walked six times. 

4. Miami blows big lead, recovers

To be clear, this wasn't a back-and-forth slugfest. The Marlins jumped ahead to an early lead, taking advantage of Toronto rookie starter Nate Pearson's wildness to stake out a 3-0 advantage after the first inning. A five-run third left the Marlins up 8-0.

From there, things got shaky.

Miami's starter Jordan Yamamoto yielded four runs before departing during the fourth inning, and the ragtag collection of relievers that followed didn't do much to hold the lead. Nick Vincent gave up a pair of runs; as did Brian Moran and Brad Boxberger. James Hoyt gave up one run himself. Add it all up, and the Miami bullpen permitted seven runs in six-plus innings of work.

The ineffectiveness of Miami's bullpen isn't too surprising: that group was the one most impacted by their COVID-19 outbreak, leading to a series of waiver claims and promotions.

5. Buffalo remains perfect on extra-inning contests

Perhaps it's fitting that the Blue Jays' home stadium this season is generally reserved for their Triple-A affiliate. In both of the games played there so far, the Blue Jays have gone into extra innings, where the runner-on-second rule borrowed from the minors from this season has reared its head.

The Blue Jays were prevalent on Tuesday night, winning 5-4 in 10 innings. They weren't quite as lucky on Wednesday, as it turned out, with the Marlins stringing together consecutive hits to begin the 10th inning and to build a two-run lead. The Marlins would add one more before the Blue Jays came to hit. Toronto then made little noise in the bottom of the frame.

The Blue Jays will now host Florida's other team, the Tampa Bay Rays, for three games beginning on Friday.