Maybe there’s a bit, or a lot, of Atkins that also hopes Navarro can help turn around starting pitcher Marco Estrada, given the latter’s struggles of late and the fact they worked so well together last season before and during Toronto’s playoff run.
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The Blue Jays celebrated Canada Baseball Day by wearing red caps and jerseys. The 2015 AL MVP jumped out of the dugout and waved in acknowledgement.
“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”.
It was a roller-coaster type day for Donaldson. He gave up three runs and five hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Twins: 1B Joe Mauer returned after missing three games with a sore quadriceps.
Reliever Scott Feldman picked up the win in relief for the Jays.
Twins starter Kyle Gibson allowed eight hits, three walks and four runs while striking out one in 5 1/3 innings. Light earned the loss.
Jake McGee (1-3) got the win by pitching a flawless 10th, which included a strikeout of Bryce Harper that led to the reigning NL MVP being ejected. By the time the middle of the sixth came around, the Jays still lead, but by a much tighter 6-5 score.
Twins outfielders Robbie Grossman and Danny Santana collided while chasing a high fly by leadoff batter Bautista in the first. “Thank God that the offense hit the ball well today”. Upton followed with a triple past a diving Max Kepler in shallow right.
Showing that he still has speed to burn at age 32, Upton took advantage of a couple of misplays by Twins’ right-fielder Max Kepler. Three runs in the bottom frame and another two in the eighth got the Blue Jays just enough runs to take the game and the series by a score of 8-7.
Edwin Encarnacion crushed his 36th home run in the sixth inning, recording his 14th three-plus RBI game of the season.
ROCKIES 9, NATIONALS 4 (11): Charlie Blackmon hit two home runs, including the go-ahead shot in the 11th inning, and visiting Colorado snapped a four-game losing streak.
According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, the Blue Jays are the clear favorite to win, as they are getting odds of -200 to prevail. Machado has scored 90 runs and driven in 81, with 38 doubles, 31 homers and a.922 OPS.
Trevor Plouffe hit a solo homer for the last-place Twins.
Bautista picked his third hit of the day, a single, to lead off the seventh and Donaldson followed with his second home run on a 95 miles per hour four-seam fastball.
Some call it a Little League home run others would simply call it an inside-the-park home run; but regardless, the Twins lost in heartbreaking fashion on Saturday to the Toronto Blue Jays. Gibson, whose WHIP is a less-than-desirable 1.54, saw his pitch count elevate and allowed five runs on seven hits in five innings versus the Tigers.
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The Jays now head out on a crucial 10-day, nine-game road trip starting on Monday, with three games in Baltimore, three in Tampa Bay and three in NY, with a day off on Thursday.
