Blue Jays Eck Out a 7-6 Victory in 11 : AL Game 4: Alomar’s two-run homer off Eckersley ties it in ninth as A’s blow 6-1 lead.

Never let it be said again that the Toronto Blue Jays are chokers.

Criticized for years as the best team in baseball that could not win the big game, the Blue Jays matched the biggest comeback in playoff history Sunday, stunning the Oakland Athletics, 7-6, in 11 innings.

Pat Borders’ sacrifice fly in the 11th inning was the official game-winning hit and gave Toronto a 3-1 edge in the AL series. But this one will forever be remembered for Roberto Alomar’s two-run homer off Dennis Eckersley in the ninth that tied it and completed a sensational, five-run rally against the A’s and perhaps the most dominant reliever of all-time.

“I wasn’t here when they didn’t win in the past,” Alomar said. “I just want to be here in the present when we win the big one, so we won’t have to hear anymore about the past.”

Alomar’s homer accounted for the biggest turnaround in a major-league game since Kirk Gibson’s homer in the 1988 World Series, also off Eckersley. And, more importantly, it put Toronto one game away from the World Series.

The Blue Jays, three-time losers in the playoffs, also held a 3-1 advantage in the 1985 playoffs against Kansas City. But they blew that one with three consecutive losses, and began the history of failure that has followed them ever since.

“I think this should dispel any talk about the Blue Jays being losers,” Toronto’s Dave Winfield said.

Today, Game 2 winner David Cone will start against A’s ace Dave Stewart.

“You look back and you think a 6-1 lead is pretty healthy,” Eckersley said. “Who blows 6-1 leads? It’s against reason.”

A rejuvenated Rickey Henderson revitalized the A’s early as they knocked out Jack Morris while taking a 6-1 lead after seven innings. Only once before had a team overcome a five-run deficit in the playoffs, when Oakland trailed Boston, 5-0, in the second inning before winning, 10-6, in 1988.

But for the second consecutive day Eckersley was ineffective, and this time it cost Oakland the game.

“I think Eckersley wasn’t the Eckersley we’ve seen before,” Alomar said.

Toronto scored three times in the eighth, setting up Alomar’s tying homer.

Then in the 11th, Derek Bell drew a leadoff walk from loser Kelly Downs, took third on Candy Maldonaldo’s single to right and scored on Borders’ fly ball to Henderson in left.

Duane Ward was the winner and Tom Henke pitched the 11th to get his third save of the series.

Aside from batting left-handed, Alomar, who had four hits, bears no resemblance to Gibson. But to the Blue Jays--and to Eckersley--what he did almost was the same.

Devon White led off the ninth with a single that skipped past Henderson in left for a two-base error. That brought up Alomar, and he launched a homer to right, as did Gibson in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series to beat the A’s.

Alomar hit only eight homers during the regular season, although he connected in Game 3.

Two outs later, a single by John Olerud forced Eckersley from the game. He walked off to a few boos, but was saved a loss when Jim Corsi retired Borders on a bases-loaded grounder.

The A’s had the potential winning run thrown out at home in the ninth. Harold Baines opened with a single off Ward, pinch-runner Eric Fox stole second and took third on slugger Mark McGwire’s first sacrifice bunt of the season.

Terry Steinbach followed with a grounder to Alomar at second, and Fox hesitated before breaking home. The delay cost as Alomar’s throw to Borders was in plenty of time for the tag.

A sensational catch by shortstop Mike Bordick thwarted Toronto in the 10th. With two out and two on, Bordick raced across the Coliseum’s ample foul territory to catch Dave Winfield’s pop-up just before he ran into the short retaining wall in the A’s bullpen.

That Toronto was even position in the ninth to win it was weird. Bob Welch shut down the Blue Jays on six hits for seven innings, and held a 6-1 lead. He left after Alomar led off with a double, and reliever Jeff Parrett surrendered singles to Joe Carter and Winfield, scoring a run.

The A’s needed to win this game, so manager Tony La Russa made an uncharacteristic move and brought in Eckersley early. It didn’t get any easier, however, as Olerud and Maldonado hit run-scoring singles on Eckersley’s first two pitches, making it 6-4.

Eckersley was perhaps the most dominant pitcher in the majors this season, converting 51 of 54 save chances, not including one in the first game of the playoffs.

He did it with a 1.91 earned-run average, an 8 1/2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a .211 opponents’ batting average. Even so, he was nothing special in Game 3, when Toronto got two hits against him in one-third of an inning.

Henderson, held to a one-for-10 effort for three games, seemed to be his old self. Stung by criticism in the Bay area that he should be benched, he sprung to life by singling three times, stealing a base and reaching base on an error.

Henderson also showed some of the stuff that so enraged Toronto in the 1989 playoffs. After trotting home on Ruben Sierra’s double in the sixth, Henderson stopped at home plate and pointed one finger in the air, to no one in particular and everyone in general.

La Russa adjusted Oakland’s lineup, inserting Jerry Browne in center field for Wilson and moving him to the second spot in the order. Browne was on base twice and laid down a sacrifice bunt while slumping Carney Lansford, dropped from second to the seventh slot, delivered two hits.

Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the second on John Olerud’s home run. Henderson got the A’s going in the third.

Mike Bordick and Lance Blankenship opened the inning with singles, bringing up Henderson, who singled to left, tying the game, 1-1.

Morris, a 21-game winner during the season and the free agent Toronto acquired for his postseason success, may have been rattled, and he walked Browne on four pitches to load the bases.

With the crowd louder than it had been in two days at the Coliseum, Sierra hit a hard sacrifice fly that put the A’s ahead.

Harold Baines, whose ninth-inning homer beat Morris in Game 1, came through again with an opposite-field double for another run.

Morris appeared mystified that he couldn’t get the A’s out, and they continued the procession when McGwire was intentionally walked to load the bases. An unintentional walk to Steinbach forced home a run for a 4-1 lead, and Lansford chopped a single that shortstop Manuel Lee mishandled for another run.

Morris got out of the inning by getting Bordick to hit into a double play.

Welch struck out seven and scattered seven hits before leaving. Welch was on the disabled list three times this season and made only 20 starts.