BLUE JAYS CRUISE PAST ATHLETICS TO CLAIM 10TH STRAIGHT VICTORY
toronto» The Blue Jays surged to the top of the AL East with their 10th straight win, beating the Athletics 10-3 on Wednesday behind three-run homers from Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak.
The Blue Jays trailed the Yankees by six games on July 31. But after making several bold trades, they have gone on a streak that included a sweep of New York, losing only once since Troy Tulowitzki joined the team in trade from the Rockies, to move a half-game up in the division.
Josh Donaldson had two hits and two RBIs, boosting his major league-leading total to 85.
WEDNESDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
Miguel Montero homered in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Cubs a 3-2 victory over the Brewers for Chicago’s sixth straight win and 12th in 13 games. Montero, who allowed two wild pitches to get past him in the ninth as the Brewers rallied to tie the score, led off the 10th with a solo blast to left field off Michael Blazek (5-3). … Danny Salazar (10-6) pitched neatly into the eighth inning, and the Indians dropped the Yankees out of first place in the AL East with a 2-1 win. The Yankees, who have lost five straight, trail surging Toronto by a half-game in the division and fell out of the top spot for the first time since July 2. New York has scored six runs in its losing streak. … Colby Rasmus homered to lead off the seventh inning to help Scott Feldman (5-5) earn his first win in more than two months, and the Astros held on to beat the Giants 2-0. Jed Lowrie also homered for the Astros, who will stumble back to Minute Maid Park with a slimmer AL West division lead after going 2-7 on their nine-game road trip. … Yadier Molina tripled in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning when right fielder Gregory Polanco missed an attempted shoe-top catch and Michael Wacha got his 14th win to tie for the major-league high as the Cardinals beat the Pirates 4-2. … Rookie J.T. Realmuto drove in six runs, including five in a franchise record-tying 10-run sixth inning, which helped the Marlins complete a two-game sweep in a series between last-place teams by beating the Red Sox 14-6. Realmuto hit an RBI single in the sixth to put the Marlins ahead 5-4, and then hit his first career grand slam later in the inning to make the score 14-4. … Cameron Rupp homered and drove in a career-high four runs, and the Phillies avoided a series sweep with a 7-6 win over the Diamondbacks. … Rookie Raisel Iglesias pitched six strong innings and Joey Votto scored the go-ahead run on a balk by James Shields and later homered to lead the Reds to a 7-3 victory against the Padres. Iglesias (3-4) retired 16 straight from the end of the first inning through the sixth to help the Reds avoid a three-game sweep. He allowed three runs and six hits while striking out eight and walking one. He had lost four of his previous five decisions. … Curt Casali capped a six-run seventh inning with a two-run homer and the Rays rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Braves .… Aaron Hicks had four of Minnesota’s 17 hits, Miguel Sano homered twice and Mike Pelfrey (6-7) picked up his first win since June as the Twins routed the Rangers 11-1. … Ian Kinsler doubled home two runs and the Tigers batted around in a four-run eighth inning to defeat the Royals 7-4. The loss snapped the Royals’ eight-game home winning streak, their longest since 2003. The Associated Press