Midway through Paul Molitor’s postgame news conference, Twins baseball communications director Dustin Morse leaned against the wall and inadvertently caused the manager’s office to go dark. “The light went out here a couple of hours ago”.
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It was a much-needed moment of levity amid a downward spiral that seems to be accelerating.
With the game tied at 1-1, Tulowitzki led off the fifth with a single and Donaldson followed with his 27th homer of the season, a drive to right, as the Blue Jays took a two-run lead. 500 with two-thirds of the schedule complete.
“As far as runs scored, they’re closing in on what we’ve done”.
“It’s absolutely big; this is the team that’s in front of us in the standings right now”, Price said.
“They’ve got a great squad”, Hunter marveled.
The Jays repeatedly punished Twins starter Kyle Gibson, eventually chasing him after 4.2 innings, scoring eight earned runs on nine hits, successfully keeping their focus, even with the massive series with the Yankees looming.
Mark Buehrle delivered his latest in a long line of snappy starts, allowing just three runs and five hits in seven innings of work. Unfortunately the team wasn’t able to build on that momentum losing their next two games before taking two of three against the White Sox.
“If this doesn’t get you jacked for the playoff push then you might want to consult a doctor … because you are dead” Ewing said in his video description.
“We’re feeling good right now, and we continue to swing the bats well, we’ve done it all year”. He figured he knew where the ball was going off Sano’s bat before it got there.
“If it’s a rookie pitching or a guy that’s been around for a while, we’ve got that feel of whose butt are we going to kick today”, said Buehrle, who pitched seven innings and allowed five hits and one walk while striking out one.
Falling for the 10th time in 12 games and now 5-14 since the all-star break, the Twins are in a stretch of 25 games out of 35 against clubs that entered Thursday with winning records. They got a rush on that play. “The frustration is continuing”.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper.
“He’s done it before”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Price performing on big stages.
Ryan O’Rourke, Casey Fien and Kevin Jepsen came out of the bullpen for the Twins.
Twins fourth. Tor. Hunter grounded out, shortstop Tulowitzki to first baseman Smoak. We’ve got to pitch well, give our offence a chance and play good defence, really. They have a very powerful offense and you just have to make pitches on them. When they hit the ball, it sounds like auto crashes.
Gibson, meanwhile, continued his second-half slide.
Soriano, who has 207 career saves, is 2-0 with a 6.35 ERA in six games for the Cubs after signing as a free agent June 9.
Encarnacion hit an RBI double in the first, homered in the third, walked and scored in the fifth and doubled home a run in the sixth. First baseman Joe Mauer had a two-run single to score Robinson, who reached first on Donaldson’s error, and Hicks, who doubled.
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Sanchez initially launched an appeal because he insisted his fastball got away from him and that he did not intend to hit Escobar after umpire Jim Wolf had warned the Blue Jays and Royals earlier in the game.
