Power surge: Hard-charging Blue Jays overpower Twins, win fourth straight
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
The Toronto Blue Jays reloaded at the trade deadline and now they’re unloading on all who stand in their way.
With their 9-7 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, the Blue Jays have now won four straight and seven of eight overall. Much of that success coincides with the stunning acquisition of All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. In fact, Toronto is now 7-0 with Tulo in the lineup, but this lineup was already plenty deep without him.
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Case in point, in Wednesday’s win, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion each homered and drove in all nine runs to supply the Jays offense. Three swings, all kinds of damage, and even a good night from Minnesota’s offense couldn’t overcome it.
After Minnesota struck for three against Drew Hutchinson in the first inning, Donaldson immediately countered with a two-run shot in the bottom half. One inning later, the Jays grabbed the lead for good on Bautista’s grand slam. Encarnacion capped Toronto’s scoring with a three-run shot in the fourth.
Minnesota scored four more off Hutchinson in the fifth, including a two-run homer by Miguel Sano. Toronto’s bullpen would shut things down, preserving the victory for Hutchinson. Newly-acquired LaTroy Hawkins picked up his first save for the Jays. He’s the sixth different player to earn a save for Toronto this season and the 13th player in MLB to earn a save against all 30 teams.
METS BARELY HOLD ON, GAIN GROUND ON NATS
A blowout victory nearly turned into a devastating defeat for the New York Mets.
Leading the Miami Marlins by eight runs in the ninth inning, New York was forced to retire the potential game-winning run in order to escape with an 8-6 victory.
Mets starter Matt Harvey pitched seven scoreless in the outing and ultimately picked up his 10th victory. But he had to sweat it out as the newest Met, reliever Eric O’Flaherty, surrendered four runs on four hits in the ninth. Hansel Roberts entered next, but was only able to retire one batter, allowing a hit and walk of his own. That forced Terry Collins to turn to his closer, Jeurys Familia, who was also off his game, allowing a pair of hits, but he recovered to retire Christian Yelich to end it.
It’s a good thing the Mets had so much margin for error. The red-hot Lucas Duda was a big part of it, driving in three runs. The biggest swing, it turns out, belonged to Juan Uribe. His three-run blast in the fifth made it 7-0. Those three runs were essential.
As it stands, the Mets have now won six straight, all within the division. They also gained another game on the Washington Nationals, who fell in blowout fashion to the Diamondbacks 11-2. New York’s division lead is two games.
PIRATES SNAP CUBS SIX-GAME WINNING STREAK
On Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs looked to sweep a rain-shortened two-game series from the Pittsburgh Pirates and extend their overall winning streak to seven, while gaining another game in the NL wild-card standings.
They were denied on all fronts. Behind big offensive games from Gregory Polanco and Andrew McCutchen, the wild card leading Pirates emerged with a 7-5 victory.
Polanco greeted new Cubs starter Dan Haren with a home run in the first inning. McCutchen added a solo shot in the third, which extended Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-0. By the sixth, the Cubs had tied the game 4-4 on home runs from Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo, but Pittsburgh pulled ahead for good on Polanco’s RBI single and McCutchen’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half.
Veterans Aramis Ramirez and Francisco Cervelli each contributed two hits in the win, while Sean Rodriguez provided some insurance with an RBI single. It was a balanced attack, which is often the case when Pittsburgh’s offense comes through. With the win, they maintained a 3 1/2 game lead over San Franciso while extending to four over Chicago.
WHITE SOX WALKOFF ON WALK
A wild afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field ended with the Chicago White Sox walking across the finish line with a 6-5 victory.
After blowing a five-run first-inning lead, the White Sox pieced together a strange tenth-inning rally that included a bloop single, a stolen base, an error that forced Rays shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to leave the game, and three consecutive walks.
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The stolen base was the key to the rally. Though Curt Casali’s throw wasn’t likely to cut down Adam Eaton, the fact that Cabrera completely whiffed on the throw cost Tampa Bay 90 critical feet. The throw ended up smacking Cabrera on the right ear and bounding away. Cabrera originally stayed in the game, but later left the game. .
After a Tyler Saladino fly out, Rays manager Kevin Cash elected to walk the bases loaded to set up the inning-ending double play, but Brad Boxberger also walked Avisail Garcia to send home the winning run. Garcia also capped the Sox five-run first inning with a three-run homer, so it was a big afternoon for him.
Want to see more from Wednesday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
