TORONTO-B.J. Upton saw Max Kepler dive for his sinking drive in the eighth inning and when the ball skipped past the right fielder he was thinking triple. Kepler and Minnesota centre-fielder Eddie Rosario couldn’t even pick up the ball before Upton crossed home, giving Toronto its first lead of the game.
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Jason Grilli handled the eighth inning, and as the Blue Jays are growing very accustomed to, the veteran right-hander fanned two batters and worked a clean frame.
The improbable win by the Blue Jays assured that they would be on top of the American League East by themselves for at least another day.
On Friday night, the Jays went down 1-0 early, but came back with a five-run second inning to put themselves ahead for good. Minnesota’s Trevor Plouffe homered for the second straight game.
MILWAUKEE – John Jaso, Gregory Polonco and Starling Marte all hit solo home runs while Ivan Nova struck out four over six innings as Pittsburgh finished off their first-ever four-game sweep of Milwaukee at Miller Park.
Minnesota scored four runs in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.
Josh Donaldson crushed three home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball, while David Ortiz hit yet another for the Boston Red Sox.
After the switch-hitting catcher connected, the crowd of 38,843 emphatically chanted his name. For those keeping track at home, that makes ten in a row, eclipsing the nine game losing streak that started this year.
ORIOLES 5, YANKEES 0: Kevin Gausman tamed the torrid Yankees hitters, Mark Trumbo lined his major league-leading 40th home run and Steve Pearce also connected as Baltimore averted a bruising sweep at NY.
Minnesota lost its season-worst 10th straight. Taylor Rogers pitched a third of an inning. Dylan Bundy (7-5) was the loser.
Osuna pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 29th save of the season.
Stroman’s season ERA climbed to 4.58 Saturday with five earned runs allowed, but he pitched better than his line would suggest since numerous nine hits he allowed were just out of the reach of Blue Jays infielders.
This time, he allowed six hits and tied a career high with eight strikeouts and two walks.
Twins: LHP Hector Santiago (10-8, 5.16) starts the opener of a three-game series at Cleveland on Monday.
WASHINGTON – Nolan Arenado was 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Chad Bettis allowed just two runs in seven innings as Colorado posted a series victory with a win over host Washington.
Ervin Santana pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on five hits and five walks.
NL MVP Bryce Harper was ejected in the 10th after getting called out on strikes.
The Nationals star yelled at plate umpire Mike Winters from close range and threw his helmet to the ground after being tossed.
Dozier singled and scored on a wild pitch by Marcus Stroman in the first, singled again in the third, then hit a two-run double in Minnesota’s four-run fourth. Manny Machado has logged 158 hits with 91 runs, 31 homers and 81 RBI.
Dozier’s two-run double gave him a career-best 78 RBIs.
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Jake McGee (1-3) pitched a flawless 10th that included striking out Harper.
