Blue Jays 11, Twins 5: Jose Reyes hit a tiebreaking homer and Rajai Davis added a three-run shot during a four-run fifth inning as host Toronto maintained its recent dominance over Minnesota.
Colby Rasmus went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs and finished a triple short of the cycle for the Blue Jays, who have won 18 of their last 25 against the Twins. Todd Redmond (1-1) worked around Aaron Hicks’ two-run homer in the fifth – the only hit he allowed in five innings – to secure his first major-league win.
Trevor Plouffe belted a two-run home run in the eighth and finished with two of the Twins’ five hits. Ontario native Scott Diamond (5-8) was roughed up again on the road, falling to 0-3 with an 8.39 ERA over his last five such starts after giving up six runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Redmond and Diamond traded zeroes through 3 ½ innings until Rasmus followed a double by Davis with a two-run blast to right-center. The Twins evened it in the fifth when Redmond issued his third and final walk and Hicks pounded a 2-1 fastball into the Minnesota bullpen for his first homer since May 29.
Toronto took the lead back for good on Reyes’ solo shot four pitches into the fifth and Davis put the game away when he drilled a 1-0 fastball into the second deck. The Twins scratched out a run in the sixth, but the Blue Jays got the run back in the seventh and added four more in the eighth to pad their cushion.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Toronto has won nine of its last 11 at the Rogers Centre against Minnesota and improved to 40-16 at home against the Twins since 2006. The Jays haven’t lost a series to Minnesota since May 25-27, 2007. … Davis stole his 102nd base as a member of the Blue Jays in the seventh, pushing him past Otis Nixon for eighth place on the team’s all-time list. … Minnesota 1B Justin Morneau, a Canada native, went 0-for-1 with a walk and finished hitless in nine at-bats in this series. In 26 career games in Toronto, he is batting .188.
Minnesota | Toronto | |
Scott Diamond | Player | Todd Redmond |
Loss | W/L | Win |
4.2 | IP | 5.0 |
1 | Strikeouts | 4 |
8 | Hits | 1 |
11.57 | ERA | 3.60 |
Minnesota | Toronto | |
Trevor Plouffe | Player | Colby Rasmus |
2 | Hits | 3 |
2 | RBI | 3 |
1 | HR | 1 |
5 | TB | 7 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |