Blue Jays’ hot bats topple Twins
TORONTO 7 MINNESOTA 5
Even with Josh Donaldson missing 16 games on the disabled list, Jose Bautista gone and Kendrys Morales off to a slow start, the Toronto Blue Jays are powering up again and supplying the offence they’ve become used to.
Justin Smoak and Russell Martin homered, Yangervis Solarte had three hits and Toronto edged the Minnesota Twins for a 7-5 win on Monday night.
Smoak hit a towering, two-run shot to cap a three-run fourth inning to stake the Blue Jays to a 5-0 lead. Martin added a solo homer to the second deck in left field an inning later as Toronto won its second game in a row.
“You’re going to play many a game like that,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “It never feels good. They had the tying run at second, but we got our closer out there. Bottom line, we won that thing. We had a chance early on to really blow it open.”
Minnesota has lost 10 of its past 11 games after a rally against closer Roberto Osuna fell short in the ninth.
The Twins stranded runners on second and third as Osuna secured his seventh save in eight chances.
“There were some positives, Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. “You kind of try to look for things when wins are hard to come by. Obviously, we’ve been facing a lot of deficits early in games.”
Toronto slipped to last in the American League in scoring last season and was seventh in home runs in the AL. After hitting three home runs in Sunday’s win, the Blue Jays entered the night tied for second in the majors in homers this season and were fifth in runs scored.
Aaron Sanchez (2-2) was the beneficiary of the run support. He pitched six innings and allowed four runs and six hits and three walks.
Minnesota’s Lance Lynn (0-3) struggled with his command again and couldn’t get past the fifth inning for the fourth time in five starts this season. Lynn gave up six runs in five innings. He allowed seven hits and walked five batters. He has an 8.37 ERA for the season.
At one point, he threw nine straight balls and he walked Curtis Granderson with the bases loaded in the second.
“I’m going to be all right,” Lynn said. “I’ve just got to be me and attack hitters and make pitches. I’ve got the ability to do that. I’ve showed that over the course of my career. And now I’ve just got to go do it.”
Eduardo Escobar hit his fourth homer of the season for Minnesota, a two-run blast to straightaway centre in the fifth.
Red Sox 10, Royals 6
BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox slammed their way through their most wins in April ever.
Xander Bogaerts hit a grand slam over the Green Monster and Boston finished April by beating the Kansas City Royals 10-6 on Monday night.
Mitch Moreland hit a solo homer and had three hits along with Bogaerts for the Red Sox, who posted their 19th victory in April. They had reached 18 three times, the last coming in their World Series-winning 2013 season.
It was Boston’s sixth slam of the season — all coming in April — and tied them with 1996 Montreal Expos for most ever in the majors by May 1. The Red Sox didn’t even hit one last season.
“I didn’t hit a grand slam in my career, it’s not because of me,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, breaking into a smile. Bogaerts had a simple answer. “Especially with the bases loaded, we’re getting some good swings,” he said.