With their 6-1 win at Rogers Centre against the Detroit Tigers, Toronto secured its 51st victory of 2016, the most at the midway point of the season by a Blue Jays team since the 1992 World Series championship squad.
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The Blue Jays had just tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a home run by Devon Travis. Toronto was able to win the first two games before Detroit bounced back on Saturday with a 3-2 win. INF Ryan Goins, who went on the DL with a strained forearm after pitching an inning of relief in Toronto’s 19-inning loss to Cleveland on July 1, has resumed throwing. He has a seven-game hitting streak and finished the four-game series vs. Detroit 8 for 15 with one strikeout. He hit. 344 with on homer and three RBIs in nine games with Triple-A Colorado Springs…. Cabrera is hitting. 171 this season with two outs and runners in scoring position. Gordon Beckham and Freddie Freeman added solo home runs for Atlanta. Justin Upton hit a looper down the right field line that dropped in front of right fielder Junior Lake to load the bases.
Peralta had been held out of the starting lineup the last two games because of a sore left thumb but announced his return in a big way, crushing an 0-and-2 offering from Chase Anderson (4-10) to left-center field for his fourth homer of the year, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
LF Michael Saunders followed with a single and drove Darwin Barney home for the final score of 6-1. He singled in the first but ran into a double play.
Houston mustered a rally in the ninth, with Jake Marisnick and Marwin Gonzalez stroking back-to-back singles to chase Graveman.
The Tigers drew only a single base runner in the seventh as James McCann was able to get to base on a walk, but it didn’t mean much as the Tigers weren’t able to do anything else in the inning.
Boring struck out Carlos Gomez with pinch-runner George Springer on first to record his first save. An irate Martin had to be restrained by two coaches. In two career starts in Toronto, Sanchez has allowed a. 980 OPS and 6.75 ERA. Justin Wilson took the loss, while Alex Wilson was charged with the blown save.
The Tigers won two of three from the Blue Jays in June at Comerica Park, so the teams enter Sunday’s game having won three games apiece against each other.
Anibal Sanchez still can’t get it going as a starter. He is 3-2 with a 4.17 ERA in nine career games, including seven starts, against the Blue Jays.
In big Blue Jays news, Aaron Sanchez has been named to the All Star Game in San Diego, replacing injured Boston Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel. Josh Donaldson followed with the three-run homer that put him in the aforementioned group of baseball greats. Ezequiel Carrera remains in the leadoff spot while centre-fielder Kevin Pillar will move up and hit fifth. Zach Britton then got his 26th save in 26 chances. With the three runs batted in, Encarnacion becomes the fifth player in team history with 80 RBI’s prior to the all-star break. “Eddie has hit some homers, Saundo (Mike Saunders) has hit some homers, Bats (Bautista) is behind me hitting some homers, so, I was on base a decent amount the first half, so that helps with the success of that”.
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Edinson Volquez (8-8) picked up the win for Kansas City.
