The one (or six) that got away

The Blue Jays continued their downward trend Wednesday, getting swept by the Minnesota Twins thanks to a 12-6 extrainnings loss.

Toronto tied the game 6-6 with a three-run rally in the eighth inning but the Twins scored six two-out runs off Jake Petricka and Luis Santos in the 11th to pull firmly away. Manager John Gibbons turned to seven relievers after starter Sam Gaviglio exited the game after five innings, having given up three runs on six hits and three walks. All three runs came in the second inning, when the right-hander threw 35 pitches.

“It was a battle,” Gaviglio said. “Each inning I got runners on. Nothing was coming easy. I thought we did a good job behind the plate. I didn’t execute pitches the way I wanted to and they took advantage of it.”

Gibbons agreed that Gaviglio wasn’t on but appreciated that the pitcher figured it out enough to give the team five innings.

“That was good,” Gibbons said. “He went into the eighth in his last outing. I don’t know if that affected him or not ... But he competed and hung in there.

“It was one of those ball games, a frustrating game. We had some shots but it didn’t happen.”

Kendrys Morales drove in two of the Jays first three runs, doubling home Curtis Granderson in the first and bringing home Lourdes Gurriel Jr on a sacrifice fly to tie the game 3-3 in the fifth. For all his offensive help, Morales had his share of struggles, getting doubled off twice and ending the game by grounding into a double play.

The bottom half of the Twins order had its way with the Jays pitchers before the eighth, going 7-for-15 with four RBIs. Designated hitter and leadoff man Joe Mauer cashed in the other two runs.

The Jays seemed headed for a loss when Joe Biagini gave up a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to make it 6-3, but the Jays tied it in the bottom of the inning, the key hit a two-run single from Luke Maile.

Jaime Garcia had two clean innings in the ninth and 10th and Petricka got two quick outs to start the 11th.

But Petricka then loaded the bases and hit Max Kepler, opening the floodgates.

The highlight for the Jays was Gurriel extending his streak of games with two hits or more to eight straight, a club rookie record.