Bautista led off with a double to left-centre, a ball that either Minnesota outfielder Robbie Grossman (left) or Danny Santana (centre) should have caught.
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“That’s a first time”, he said.
The Jays, twice down by four runs in an 8-7 win over the Minnesota Twins, trailed by one entering the eighth inning at the Rogers Centre.
“There’s all different kinds of ways to lose games”, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “That one was particularly hard”. All you have to do is get a guy or two on base. That was a tough one to endure, especially those last couple of innings.
“Max is trying to make a play and get us off the field with a lead and he came up short”, Molitor said.
The Texas Rangers edged the Cleveland Indians 2-1, the Oakland Athletics beat the St Louis Cardinals 7-4 and the Tampa Bay Rays claimed a 10-4 win over the Houston Astros.
“A win like that can get some good things going for us”, Grilli said.
There are some games during the course of a season that teams are expected to win because of their record and the recent play of their opponent, but still, they have to go out and compete.
Donaldson’s hat-trick marked the 21st time in Jays history a player hit three dingers.
“That was a huge play”.
Jays’ closer Roberto Osuna came in to pitch a flawless ninth inning to preserve the victory while picking up his 29th save.
Roberto Osuna pitched a flawless ninth with two strikeouts to earn his 29th save of the season.
“They’re an aggressive team and they don’t swing at very bad pitches, either”, Santana said.
Right-hander Ervin Santana acknowledged that the clubhouse was “a little down” following the defeat. He hit another home run on Friday. He struck out five.
The speedy Upton, acquired in a trade with San Diego last month, has nine RBIs in his past 14 games.
Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey allowed six hits, three walks and five runs (three earned) in six innings.
Blue Jays: Donaldson hopped around in pain after fouling a ball off the outside of his right knee in the first. Dozier led off with a single, stole second, took third on Joe Mauer’s fly out to left and scored on a wild pitch. Troy Tulowitzki lined out, but the three-run inning cut Minnesota’s lead down and set up Upton’s heroics. Rosario hit a hard single into right field and reached second on Donaldson’s throwing error. Miguel Sano hit an RBI single, Eduardo Escobar hit an RBI double and Dozier stroked a two-run double.
Saunders replied with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning, driving Encarnacion home from first. Toronto 3B Josh Donaldson has two homers, seven RBIs and six runs scored during his six-game hitting streak.2.
Bautista led off with bottom of the seventh with a single against Light, his third hit of the game, and Donaldson hit his second homer of the game to center to give Toronto the lead.
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Leading off the sixth, Tulowitzki hammered an 89 miles per hour two-seam fastball from Gibson just over the wall in deep centre to pull the Jays to within two. Kevin Pillar slashed a one-out double to left, bringing Upton to the plate.
