At 70-50, the Indians now have the second best record in the American League behind the Blue Jays.
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Toronto Blue Jays’ Melvin Upton watches the ball leave the park for a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Indians, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Cleveland.
Naquin hit a drive deep to right field that went over the head of Jays outfielder Michael Saunders, and the speedy Indians outfielder took off, sprinting all the way home for an improbable walk-off, inside-the-park home run.
CINCINNATI – Joey Votto hit a three-run homer, relief pitcher Michael Lorenzen also hit a three-run shot, and Cincinnati beat Los Angeles to snap a nine-game losing streak against the Dodgers.
Saturday night, Osuna came in to pitch the ninth with the Blue Jays leading 6-5, and he retired the side in order.
The latest matchup between division leaders also had plenty of drama, with Osuna retiring Naquin on a groundout to end it.
The 33-year-old Ontario native is 10-for-19 with 10 RBIs and seven runs scored in his last five games heading into an encounter with Saturday starter Josh Tomlin, against whom he is just 1-for-9 in his career. Osuna also gave up a tying homer to Jose Ramirez on Friday, but pitched a ideal ninth Saturday for his 28th save.
On the season, Tomlin is 11-4 with a 4.14 earned run average in 137 innings of work.
The Nationals led 6-3 in the eighth before the Braves took advantage of throwing errors by shortstop Danny Espinosa and third baseman Anthony Rendon to score three runs. Caught in the mob is Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin.
Phelps (7-6) allowed two hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in his fourth start of the season.
Mike Napoli hit an RBI single in the sixth for Cleveland. Lonnie Chisenhall’s three-run homer ended a 10-pitch at-bat and tied the game.
RANGERS 6, RAYS 2 Adrian Beltre led off consecutive innings with home runs and Cole Hamels didn’t give up a hit until the sixth in Texas’ victory over host Tampa Bay.
Baltimore hit four home runs before Houston made its first out – the first team to do that in the modern era (since 1900) – but the Astros recovered to win 15-8. In Thursday’s game, the Indians use four relievers to pitch eight innings. Toronto 3B Josh Donaldson is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday after missing two games with a jammed thumb.2. Tulowitzki missed Friday’s game because of a strained calf. His 156.1 innings are already a single-season career high and with a month of regular season play and at least a couple playoff starts in his future, speculation was that Toronto would start to lighten his workload either by skipping his spot or moving him to the bullpen.
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The Blue Jays front office planned on keeping Sanchez to a hard innings cap at the start of the season to prevent long-term wear on his arm.
