Dylan Cease has a strange blind spot, and it cost the Blue Jays again Monday night.

Toronto fell 6-5 to Oakland on a bases-loaded walk-off single from Jeff McNeil, capping a wild ninth inning.

Andres Gimenez had tied the game with his ninth home run of the season, one out into the top of the ninth. Louis Varland couldn't hold it, allowing two infield singles and two walks before McNeil's grounder snuck through.

That was the only run Toronto's bullpen allowed over 3.2 innings. The real story was Cease's outing and another cold offensive stretch with runners in scoring position.

Cease lasted five innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on just four hits.

Speed did the damage. Oakland stole five bases off him, three from Henry Bolte and two from Zack Gelof, with catcher Alejandro Kirk managing just one caught stealing all night.

A throwing error by Kazuma Okamoto let Gelof score after that lone caught stealing, adding insult to the inning.

Why Oakland is a genuine outlier for Cease

Bolte added a solo home run in the fifth, snapping Cease's fastball home run streak dating back to Aug. 28, when Dominic Canzone took him deep in Toronto's win over the Mariners.

From June 1 through Monday, Cease had allowed just that one fastball homer, holding hitters to a .135 average with 46 strikeouts in that stretch.

Toronto clawed back with a three-run seventh, started by Okamoto's 29th home run, a Gimenez double, and a Josh Smith sacrifice fly.

Cease has been dominant nearly everywhere else this season. Among qualified AL pitchers, he ranks first in strikeout rate, whiff rate, FIP, and opponents' batting average.

He became the first pitcher since Max Scherzer and Chris Sale to post 200-plus strikeouts in six straight seasons, reaching 200 this year faster than anyone in Blue Jays history.

But the Athletics have always been different. Cease entered Monday with a 5.44 career ERA against Oakland, his worst mark against any opponent he's faced for at least 40 innings.

That number is now 5.63 after Monday, and it's ballooned to 8.79 over his last two seasons against this specific opponent.

Toronto went just 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and still nearly stole a win anyway.

The Blue Jays fall to 72-73, one game back of Cleveland, which briefly moved into the third wild-card spot at 73-72.

Toronto is 19-22 in one-run games this season, and at this point, every one that slips away costs far more than a simple line in the standings.