The Toronto Blue Jays got off to a tough start this week, dropping three of their first four games, and things were not looking good for the Jays.
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Understatement: Josh Donaldson was effective in the Blue Jays’ 9-6 win over the Twins on Sunday (box score).
Donaldson had hit one home run in the previous 16 games and dealt with a thumb injury when he homered on Thursday. It was much needed after they lost two one-run games to the likewise pennant contending Cleveland Indians in a weekend series prior to that.
But as manager John Gibbons likes to point out, these are all major-league teams that you face, and any given day you can be beat. “He’s capable of that, we have a few guys who are capable of doing something like that, it’s a rare feat”.
The 30-year-old Donaldson followed that by completing the homer trifecta with a solo shot to dead centre in the eighth, his 33rd. The third baseman’s first career three home run game helped Toronto rally from a 5-2 deficit after coming back from a 5-0 deficit Saturday. Following Donaldson’s third homer of the day and fifth in four games, hats poured onto the field.
“I think it’s unique to this area (the hat-trick) right, so it’s really cool”, said Jays starter R.A. Dickey “You don’t see something like that very often, I think the response was warranted”. Donaldson came out for a curtain call as the crowd of 47,444 roared their approval.
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. Encarnacion hit his 36th homer and leads the AL with 105 RBIs.
Rookie Pat Light, making his sixth appearance of the season, took the loss after giving up Donaldson’s go-ahead, two-run blast in the seventh. Troy Tulowitzki lined out to second to end the inning with the score 7-6 Minnesota. Both Kevin Pillar and Upton Jr. jetted around the bases on the miraculous play that put the Blue Jays ahead 8-7 in the eighth inning.
Three runs in the third inning inspired the Los Angeles Angels’ 3-2 win against the Detroit Tigers, who had two men ejected, while the San Diego Padres’ solitary fourth-inning run earned them a 1-0 success over the Miami Marlins. He reached base on a single, stole second, advanced to third on Joe Mauer’s pop fly to left field then ran home when Stroman bounced the ball off the plate.
In the third, Rosario came around to score on a fielder’s choice RBI by Max Kepler. Josh Donaldson had previously walked.
Donaldson made up for his ninth error of the season nearly immediately, smoking a Gibson offering into the second deck in left in the bottom half. In four starts in August, he is 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA.
Stroman induced a Juan Centeno groundout and then had Danny Santana pop out to centre field before Dozier struck again with a two-run double to make it 5-0 for the Twins.
Trevor Plouffe homered for the second straight game.
Tulowitzki responded by leading off the sixth with his 22nd homer of the season, a no-doubter over the centre field wall.
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Jays’ closer Roberto Osuna came in to pitch a flawless ninth inning to preserve the victory while picking up his 29th save.
