JAYS’ BATS RISE TO LIFE
Saunders HRs sink Rays
The Toronto Blue Jays just might be in the process of finding their offensive mojo.
Aaron Sanchez blanked the Tampa Bay Rays through seven innings, scattering six hits and striking out six as the Jays ended their longest losing streak since last July with a 6-1 victory.
But it was the Toronto offence that made the loudest noise with a four-home run outburst against tough lefty Drew Smyly and a solid Tampa bullpen contingent.
Leadoff man Michael Saunders hit two solo home runs, Josh Donaldson belted his eighth of the season and Ryan Goins connected on a ninth-inning opposite field shot, his first of the year.
First baseman Justin Smoak drove in two runs with a basesloaded eighth-inning single.
Smyly was the hard-luck loser for Tampa. He allowed only two hits over six innings: Saunders’ first homer in the third inning and Donaldson’s in the sixth.
The Rays had only eight baserunners against Sanchez.
They scored their lone run of the game when shortstop Brad Miller homered on reliever Drew Storen’s second pitch.
Storen and Brett Cecil got through the rest of the eighth without further damage and Roberto Osuna, pitching in a non-save situation, nailed it down in the ninth to end Toronto’s losing streak at three games and get them back within two games of .500.
The Blue Jays were absolutely hopeless against Smyly until, with two outs in the third, Saunders came to the plate.
Smyly fell behind 2-0 and then Saunders belted a rainbow to dead centre that bounced off the top of the wall and over for his third home run of the season.
Meanwhile, after a wobbly start to the first inning, Sanchez was mowing the Rays down. He gave up consecutive singles to Logan Forsythe and Miller, then gave up only two hits and two walks the rest of the way until he departed after throwing 103 pitches through seven innings.
The first Saunders homer was Toronto’s only hit until Donaldson came to the plate in the top of the sixth. He worked the count to 2-2 then launched a moon shot that might have made it into Tropicana Field’s upper deck if it had not hit one of the catwalks high in the sky and caromed back into the field for his eighth homer to make it 2-0.
Russell Martin’s two-out single in the seventh inning prevented him from going into the record books, and not in a good way. He came to the plate with nine consecutive strikeouts, one short of the MLB record held by Houston outfielder Rick Ankiel in 2013, but Martin avoided joining him with a line drive base hit to right.
Saunders made it 3-0 with his second homer of the game, leading off the eighth inning against reliever Dana Eveland.