Colon shuts down Blue Jays for Twins win

TORONTO Bartolo Colon tossed sixplus innings of one-run ball while Jorge Polanco and Byron Buxton each drove in a pair as the Minnesota Twins rolled past the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Friday night.

The Twins (66-62), who entered Friday a half-game up on the Kansas City Royals for the second American League wild-card spot, avoided a third straight loss.

Toronto (60-68) has now dropped six of seven after going 7-3 on a 10-game homestand earlier this month.

Colon (6-10) surrendered nine hits and walked one over 62/3 innings.

The 44-year-old right-hander has now won back-to-back starts and four of his last five outings.

J.A. Happ (6-10) went six innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits while striking out seven for his third consecutive loss.

The Twins got on the board in the third on a sacrifice bunt from Buxton, which scored Brian Dozier from third. Two batters later, Polanco doubled to score a pair of runs, giving Minnesota an early 3-0 lead.

Justin Smoak made history with his solo home run in the bottom half of the third. The first baseman now holds the single-season franchise record for homers by a switch hitter (35), surpassing Jose Cruz Jr.

Minnesota took a 4-1 lead in the fourth after Mitch Garver led off with a triple off the wall and scored on a sac fly from Max Kepler.

Toronto threatened in the fourth after a Kevin Pillar one-out single. Nori Aoki moved him over from first to third after a single of his own, but Colon got Ryan Goins and Darwin Barney to fly out to end the inning.

Buxton showed off his defensive game in the eighth, making a highlight-reel leaping grab to take extra bases away from Rob Refsnyder. He then added his second RBI of the night in the ninth inning, driving home Chris Gimenez to give the Twins a 6-1 lead.