Smoak, Donaldson homer as Blue Jays beat White Sox 8-4

CHICAGO (AP) — Justin Smoak hit his 31st homer, Josh Donaldson homered and drove in three runs, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox 8-4 on Tuesday night.

Smoak and Donaldson each connected for the second straight night and third time in five games. Donaldson also had a sacrifice fly and RBI double.

Marcus Stroman (10-5) went seven innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He was winless in his previous three starts despite a 1.89 ERA in that stretch.

Toronto came out on top after dropping three of four and snapped a four-game road losing streak.

Chicago’s Kevan Smith hit a tworun homer batting for injured designated hitter Matt Davidson in the sixth. But the White Sox lost for the 18th time in 22 games.

Benches and bullpens emptied when Chicago’s Tim Anderson appeared to exchange words with Stroman after striking out to lead off the seventh. Tempers quickly cooled and there were no ejections.

Donaldson connected in the first and added a sacrifice fly in the third to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Chicago’s Omar Narvaez tied it with a two-run double in the fourth, but Smoak’s two-run drive just beyond a leaping centre fielder Leury Garcia with two outs in the fifth made it 4-2.

The Blue Jays added three more in the sixth while chasing Mike Pelfrey (3-9) after he retired the first two batters. Russell Martin hit a two-run, bases-loaded single off Gregory Infante, and Donaldson drove an RBI double off the centrefield wall to make it 7-2.

Pelfrey gave up six runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.