Smoak powers through slump to lead Blue Jays win

The Toronto Blue Jays fought tooth and claw to secure a win over Minnesota tonight in the first game of the series against the Twins.  In the end, it was poor pitching on the part of the Twins, and some big innings for the Jays that would ultimately lead to the 15-8 victory.

Minnesota starting pitcher Pat Dean was out after only three innings allowing nine hits and striking out only one batter.

Justin Smoak snapped an 0 for 29 streak with runners in scoring position with his three-run home run in the second inning.  Josh Donaldson also homered in the second to bring in two runs of his own.  Donaldson’s home run was his 30th of the season.  In total, the Jays scored five runs in the second.

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Smoak picked up his fourth RBI in the game when Melvin Uptin Jr. scored from second base on Smoak’s single in the fourth.  Justin would go on to pick up his fifth RBI in the seventh inning when Darwin Barney doubled and scored on Smoak’s single.

Toronto had another breakout inning in the 6th as they worked their way through three pitchers in the Twin’s bullpen.  Andrew Albers was relieved after a solo home run by Darwin Barney.  Pat Light managed to strike out Bautista; however, he lost the plate walking Ezequiel Carrera, Josh Donaldson, and Edwin Encarnacion to load the bases.  Russell Martin brought all three of those runs home with a double and it would end up being a four-run inning for the Jays.

The seventh inning was a five-run inning for Toronto which included Martin’s fourth and fifth RBIs of the game with his 2 run homer.  Bautista and Barney also doubled in this inning bringing Barney within a triple of the cycle.

Francisco Liriano had a rough outing for Toronto.  He walked four Twins batters and three of the four came around to score due to good base running and smart hitting by the Twins.  Liriano also committed a fielding error in the third inning allowing a runner to reach base.  There were only two hits against him; but, four runs scored due to those walks.  Francisco did end up racking up seven strikeouts over his five innings of work.

Next up the Jays continue the series against the Minnesota Twins as Marcus Stroman 9-5 (4.47 ERA) takes on Ervin Santana 6-10 (3.33 ERA) on Saturday, August 27th at 1:07pm.