Josh Donaldson briefly turned Rogers Centre into a hockey arena on Sunday.
Advertisement
After erupting for 23 runs on 25 hits in the first two contests of the series, the American League East-leading Blue Jays will look to keep the offense rolling on Sunday afternoon as they vie for a sweep of the tumbling Twins.Melvin Upton Jr., who had an RBI triple and scored the winning run in Toronto’s 8-7 victory on Saturday, is 6-for-13 with six runs scored in his last three games.
Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer, left, waits for teammate Trevor Plouffe at home plate as both score on a single by teammate Migeul Sano in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016.
After the game Donaldson posted a picture on Twitter of him holding up two clear garbage bags filled with ball caps that the grounds crew and Blue Jays mascot Ace had collected from the field.
Donaldson also becomes the 18th player this season to record a three-homer game. We’ve got a few guys that are capable of doing something like that.
Donaldson hit a solo homer off Kyle Gibson in the second, then delivered a go-ahead, two-run blast off Pat Light (0-1) in the seventh. After his third dinger in the eighth, Donaldson was showered with hats, caps and various other head apparel.
“There’s all different kinds of ways to lose games”, Molitor said.
“I made three mistakes”, Kepler said. “I tried to enjoy it for a second, Eddie (Encarnacion) was on deck after I hit the third one and he had a huge smile on his face”.
The Jays finally got to Minnesota starter Ervin Santana in the fourth when Edwin Encarnacion walked with one out and was hit home via a Michael Saunders two-out double to the corner in right field. In his last outing against the Angels, Estrada put up five innings with 10 hits and six runs for a loss.
“That’s one part of our team we don’t have a whole lot of, is team speed”, Gibbons said. “It was a team effort all around and Josh had a special day today, it was neat to sit back and watch him to do his thing”. Francisco Liriano started for Toronto, and pitched a somewhat underwhelming game, going five innings and allowing three earned runs.
Light gave up a single to Troy Tulowitzki later in the inning and was replaced by J.T. Chargois, who didn’t fare much better.
Gibson proceeded to give up two runs in the 6th.
Bautista led off the first with a double as Twins’ outfielders Robbie Grossman and Danny Santana collided, allowing it to drop in. Rosario scored when Dickey got the out at first on Kepler’s high chop.
The Jays went all fundamental in taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Rosario singled with one out.
YANKEES 13, ORIOLES 5: Rookie Gary Sanchez homered for the third straight game for host NY to reach 11 in 23 career games, making him the fastest to 11 in Major League Baseball history.
Advertisement
PIRATES 3, BREWERS 1: Ivan Nova threw six sharp innings before leaving early because of a hurting left hamstring and Pittsburgh hit three solo homers to rally at Milwaukee for their eighth straight road victory. Kepler fumbled the ball as he chased it down by the wall, allowing Upton to score standing up as a sellout crowd of 47,485 cheered wildly.
