Donaldson keeps on clicking with homer in extras

Extra innings. Game on OAKLAND the line. Runner on base and the chance to avoid a series sweep.

They’re all just details to Blue Jays star third baseman Josh Donaldson. The more at stake for the proven clutch slugger, the more he thrives on the moment.

“I relish it all the time,” Donaldson said after his two-run, 10th-inning homer sent the Jays to a 7-5 win over his former team Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum. “It’s something that I’ve always enjoyed, it’s what gets me excited about playing.

“At that moment, you have a very great impact on the game and whether you’re going to win or you are going to lose. I try to take advantage of those at bats.”

The big blast was the latest of a massive eight days for the Bringer of Rain, a stretch that included a game-winner against the Yankees on Sunday, a two-homer night against them in the same series and a fifth-deck Rogers Centre blast against the Reds earlier in the week.

But this one had some extra oomph and meaning, a towering shot to deep centre that allowed the Jays to avoid what would have been a demoralizing sweep at the hands of the last-place Athletics.

It was Donaldson’s second home run at the Coliseum since the A’s dealt him north of the border prior to the 2015 season.

“That’s what MVPs do,” Jays manager John Gibbons said of the latest rain storm.

The clutch crack from Donaldson was the most notable, but it was yet another day where the home run carried this team, as it so often does.

Red-hot Justin Smoak hit a pair of solo shots to boost his team-best home run total to 17 while Kevin Pillar provided a three-run homer.

And yes, the math adds up to all seven Jays runs coming courtesy of the long ball, the team’s tried and true method to victory.