Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin goes over the rail into the Houston Astros dugout to catch a foul ball by Alex Bregman during the seventh inning of a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, in Toronto.
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The Blue Jays had the power game going on a fine Sunday afternoon, smashing three home runs and riding an eight strikeout performance from Marcus Stroman to a comfortable 9-2 victory over Houston.
The Toronto Blue Jays are 34-26 at home this season and are solid favorites to beat the Houston Astros who are 27-29 on the road this season.
Grilli was good but served up a two-out hit to Altuve that right-fielder Michael Saunders should have played conservatively with his team up two to hold the Houston batter to a single.
Sanchez (12-2) gave up two runs and three hits in a shaky first, then shut Houston down over the next six frames for his first win since July 25 against San Diego. The right-hander has surrendered five home runs in his past two outings.
“That’s big, they’re hitting Benoit around a little bit right there, so that’s a huge out”.
“Kind of got them off the fastball just enough and once he shows he has the ability to do that, it kind of takes away some of the aggressiveness”.
Every manager says that about every good offensive team. “He turned it into a great outing”.
“They slapped three balls to right field in a hurry, ” Sanchez said. “I thought we did it just enough to keep him out of his comfort zone”.
Blue Jays: OF Ezequiel Carrera (left Achilles) went 0 for 4 and struck out three times in a rehab game at Triple-A Buffalo.
Donaldson cut the deficit in half with a solo homer off McHugh in the bottom of the first, his 28th.
Houston missed a chance to add to its lead in the second, when A.J. Reed led off with a double. Travis eventually came around to score on a Troy Tulowitzki single, putting the Jays up 1-0. Travis grounded out to end the inning.
“He didn’t quite have the finish on his pitches”, manager A.J. Hinch said.
McHugh left after back-to-back singles by Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders in the fifth.
There was slugging: Edward Encarnacion’s American League-best-tying 33rd of the campaign, Troy Tulowitzki’s 20th (giving the team four players with at least 20), which was followed by Russell Martin’s 10th.
“The game turned on a dime with one swing, ” Hinch said. He gave up eight hits overall, including the home run to Hernandez in his final inning of work.
McHugh (7-10) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings to lose his fourth straight start, with two of those losses coming against the Blue Jays. The 21-year-old tied a Major League Baseball record for most saves (46) before his 22nd birthday.
“I was behind in the count a lot so that didn’t help”, Liriano said through a translator. Osuna has converted 13 consecutive opportunities.
Martin also threw out Houston’s Jose Altuve attempted steal with a ideal peg to second in the third inning, the second straight game he has managed to strike down the Astros’ speed merchant. 1B Jeff Bagwell reached base safely in 43 straight games in 1998 and 51 in a row in 1999.
Astros DH Evan Gattis had four hits, including two doubles.
Blue Jays fans would have been wise to enjoy Aaron Sanchez on the mound while he was making his 23rd start of the season against the pesky Houston Astros at the Rogers Centre on Saturday.
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Gibbons reiterated that the Blue Jays intend to bump Sanchez from a scheduled start or two down the road, but is being coy when revealing when and how that is to happen.
