“I’d rather have to back guys off than to get them going”. He really seemed locked in too.
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The Jays were certainly thrilled that Donaldson was able to stay in the game and contribute with three homers, four RBIs, there runs and a walk.
“That was a huge play”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. He’s heating up. He had a little stretch where he cooled off like everybody. “The ball might sneak through for a (hit)”. But he’s capable of that (three homers in a game). “It’s a rare feat, but realistically we could do that with some other guys”.
Donaldson hit a solo home run to left in the third inning to give Toronto a 2-1 lead, a two-run homer to center in the seventh to put the Blue Jays ahead 6-5 and another solo shot to center in the eighth. “Donaldson’s back on track”.
Josh Donaldson briefly turned Rogers Centre into a hockey arena on Sunday. The 2015 AL MVP jumped out of the dugout and waved in acknowledgement. The Blue Jays are 6-18 in such games this season. Donaldson came out for a curtain call as the crowd of 47,444 roared their approval.
“I kind of knew it would be a triple once it got by him”, Upton Jr. said, “but rounding second I saw (third base coach Luis Perez) kept waving me and I kept going”.
Bautista led off seventh with a single against Light and Donaldson hit his second homer of the game to center to give Toronto the lead.
It wasn’t all smiles and chuckles for Donaldson, however.
A fourth inning leadoff walk to Trevor Plouffe was followed by a series of groundballs that made it through the infield, one to right, another to left, a double between Edwin Encarnacion and the first-base bag.
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. He also ranks second in the American League with 85 walks (Mike Trout had 90 prior to Sunday’s games).
Donaldson broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning with a solo home run off of Twins starter Kyle Gibson.
Light (0-1) took the loss while Scott Feldman (7-4) pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief for the win.
Then he goes and hits 3 home runs.
Jose Bautista was 3 for 5.
Roberto Osuna pitched a ideal ninth with two strikeouts to earn his 29th save of the season.
Twins: LHP Hector Santiago (10-8, 5.16) starts the opener of a three-game series at Cleveland on Monday.
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. Boston’s Mookie Betts is the only player to record multiple three-homer games this season; he did so on May 31 versus the Orioles in Baltimore, and again on August 14 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Fenway Park in Boston. Following Donaldson’s third homer of the day and fifth in four games, hats poured onto the field. Afterwards, there were three large bags of them sitting in front of his locker.
“There’s all different kinds of ways to lose games”, Molitor said. “It’s kind of a rare thing and I was happy to do it, and especially past year to see Edwin do his and how the fans responded, it was great”.
YANKEES 13, ORIOLES 5: Rookie Gary Sanchez homered for the third straight game for host NY to reach 11 in 23 career games, making him the fastest to 11 in Major League Baseball history.
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“I think we started it back in May”, Gibbons said.
