Saenz provides relief

Twenty-four hours after their most bitter defeat of the season, joyous Dodgers players converged at home plate Friday night and surrounded pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz, whose two-run home run in the 10th inning gave the Dodgers a 4-3 interleague victory over the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium.

“I didn’t know it was high enough to go out,” Saenz said of his fourth career walk-off home run, which went over the left-field wall against losing pitcher Jeremy Accardo. “I really wasn’t trying to hit a home run, just hit the ball into the gap.”

On a night Takashi Saito’s streak of 26 consecutive successful save opportunities came to an end, Luis Gonzalez moved into elite territory with his 334th home run, tying him with Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner for third-most home runs in major league history by a left fielder. Only Ted Williams and Barry Bonds have hit more.

“To catch a guy like that in home runs is a nice milestone,” Gonzalez said. “When my career is over, I’ll look back scratching my head and marvel at having my name up there with those guys.”

In moving to within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Padres in the National League West, the Dodgers had to find a way to score against 25-year-old right-hander Dustin McGowan, a 2000 first-round draft choice by the Blue Jays from a small high school in Georgia.

McGowan retired 16 consecutive batters from the second inning until Jeff Kent’s one-out double in the seventh.

That’s when Gonzalez hit a two-run home run to right field, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

Brad Penny threw a season-high 7 2/3 innings, giving up five hits, striking out seven and walking none.

The scene in the ninth inning, featuring many of the 52,173 fans standing and waving souvenir blue beach towels as Saito walked in from the bullpen, told the story of how valuable he has become.

Sidelined since pulling himself out of Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh because of a left hamstring injury, Saito gave up a home run to Matt Stairs to tie the score at 2-2. It was his first blown save in 27 chances.

The Blue Jays took a 3-2 lead in the 10th when Kent was unable to catch a pop fly by John McDonald that fell off his glove for a double. Pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun followed with a grounder off the glove of third baseman Tony Abreu, scoring McDonald with the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the 10th, Abreu drew a leadoff walk. Then Saenz sent an 0-and-1 pitch over the wall, giving the Dodgers a much-needed victory.

It came a day after perhaps their most emotional and disappointing defeat of the season, a 6-5 loss to the Padres in which they gave up five runs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Dodgers did what professional athletes are supposed to do -- they had a short memory.

“It was a tough loss, but in this game, you play so many games you have to put it behind you as quick as you can,” Gonzalez said. “We had a lot of emotions in this game. Olmedo came up big for us.”

There was frustration after the Dodgers wasted scoring opportunities in the first two innings against McGowan, stranding runners at third twice.

McGowan settled into a comfortable rhythm and started setting down one Dodger after another with a 94-mph fastball. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays broke through against Penny in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Troy Glaus.

“Today is a new day and you move on,” Nomar Garciaparra said. “I think everybody has that attitude.”

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eric.sondheimer@latimes.com