Fresh off being named an AL All-Star reserve, Donaldson went 3 for 4 and scored four runs while the Blue Jays won their fourth straight.
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Donaldson has scored 77 runs, a franchise record for runs before the All Star break. Carlos Delgado had 76 in 2003. That’s unfathomable, honestly. In each of his 13 starts, he’s allowed at least one home run. Hernandez did it from October 2005 to August 2006. Going into Tuesday’s game against the Royals, the reigning American League MVP had 20 home runs, 58 RBI and a.298 batting average this season. He went 5.2 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out five and walking three in a 6-3 win over Oakland.
Troy Tulowitzki, with a three-run shot, and Ezequiel Carrera also went deep for Toronto.
“I think the first pitch is going to be the best pitch I see in an at-bat”, said Donaldson, who launched the first offering he saw in the game over the fence in straightaway centre to give his team the early lead. They last did it May 7, 2014, against Philadelphia.
“We just thought it was best”, Gibbons said.
“I’m happy I made the All-Star team”, said Donaldson.
Kansas City not named Cuthbert managed just one extra-base hit on the evening, a double by Jarrod Dyson.
“At the beginning of the game, it looked like he was real sharp”, Yost said. They open their second-half schedule with five games on the road. Edwin Encarnacion drove in a run with a base hit and Kevin Pillar added a sacrifice fly. RHPs Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera were selected to the pitching staff but Davis (forearm) will miss the game because of injury.
“I haven’t had much sleep just knowing that there might be the possibility that I might not get to pitch in this game”, said Estrada on the field of Rogers Centre, wearing a shirt supporting teammate Michael Saunders’s all-star candidacy.
Twenty of the 26 home runs hit off Young have been solo shots. The Royals selected RHP Brooks Pounders from Triple-A Omaha and designated LHP Tyler Olson for assignment. While the Blue Jays did not get off to a great start this season, there offence is terrorizing pitchers once again and their starting rotation has been strong throughout.
The most Blue Jays to ever appear in an All-Star Game was seven in 1993, with Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Pat Hentgen, Paul Molitor, John Olerud, Duane Ward and Devon White taking part in the Midsummer Classic in Baltimore. The 33-year-old will forego his scheduled start on Thursday against the Detroit Tigers, with Drew Hutchison slotting in for a spot start. Estrada has gone on the disabled list because of a sore lower back and will not play in the All-Star Game. Estrada generally doesn’t throw side sessions between outings, preferring to maintain the feeling he had in his most recent start and, as he puts it, “not waste too many bullets”.
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Brett Cecil allowed a two-out homer to Hosmer in the ninth.
