Donaldson homer puts out Fiers
After being knocked down, Blue Jays’ third baseman gets last laugh against Astros
Houston Astros’ starter Mike Fiers just missed hitting Josh Donaldson in the head — and then took one on the chin, so to speak.
Fiers had been throwing inside from the start of Saturday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. In the fifth inning, with the Astros leading 1-0, he hit Jose Bautista and then just missed Donaldson. Fiers and Donaldson stared daggers at each for a few seconds. And then in the same at-bat, the Jays’ third baseman hammered a Fiers’ offering over the wall in left-centre, scoring three runs and giving Toronto a 3-1 lead.
The Jays eventually blew the game wide open in the seventh with four more runs, three provided by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki who hit his seventh home run and second in as many games, to left-centre. The Jays went on to beat the Astros 7-2 in the third game of their four-game series. Toronto has won two of them.
“They all feel pretty good,” said Donaldson when asked about his ninth homer of the season. “But the fact of the matter is, that was a situation I don’t think the guy was trying to do it intentionally. But by the same token, it’s up around the head area and nobody appreciates that.”
Donaldson helped the Jays with more than his bat. In the third, after the Astros jumped ahead 1-0, Donaldson leaped to snag a Carlos Correra line drive and then threw a strike to first to double up Josh Reddick, limiting the damage on what could have been a big inning for the dangerous Astros.
“He’s a momentum shifter,” said Toronto starter Marcus Stroman, who picked up his ninth win of the season. “I felt like after that play I was telling myself to get back into the zone, my guys are really picking me up, I need to do my part. Shout to J.D. for that. That was incredible.”
Stroman bounced back after being removed after five innings in his last start in New York with a blister problem last week. The right-hander pitched seven complete innings, giving up just one run on six hits, improving his record to 9-5. After struggling somewhat in the first three innings, Stroman found his groove, facing just 13 hitters through the next four innings before being pulled after seven. He was helped out by four double plays.
The Jays pulled off a strikeout, throw-out double-play in the first inning. Stroman struck out Reddick and catcher Russ Martin threw out George Springer at second.
Springer brought home the first run of the game in the third, smacking a double off Stroman to the gap in right-centre, scoring Norichika Aoki. All-star first baseman Justin Smoak smacked a one-out double off the wall in centre in the seventh to score Martin and put the Jays ahead 4-1. Tulowitzki smacked his seventh home run of the season with Donaldson and Smoak on base to put the Jays ahead 7-1. Donaldson also walked three times.