Flex his Rusell!
Jays' HR sinks Boston in 11th
Russell Martin delivered the goahead hit for the second straight day, a leadoff home run in the 11th inning Saturday that sent the Blue Jays to their 10th straight win, 54 over the Red Sox in Boston.
The winning streak is Toronto’s longest since it took 11 in a row in June 2013.
Boston, in last place in the AL East, lost its fifth straight game and fell a seasonworst nine games under .500 at 2736.
On Friday night, Martin, the former Yankee, hit a tiebreaking, basesloaded triple during a ninerun burst in the seventh for a 1310 victory. On Saturday, he drove a 20 pitch from Matt Barnes (22) deep into the leftcenter field stands for his 10th homer of the season.
Brett Cecil pitched a perfect 11th for his fourth save, and second in two days, to preserve the win for Aaron Loup (23).
Toronto took a 30 lead in the second when it loaded the bases on singles by its first three batters — Edwin Encarnacion, Chris Colabello and Martin. Any possibility of a repeat of Friday night’s ninerun inning, when the first nine hitters scored before a batter was out, ended when Justin Smoak struck out.
But Kevin Pillar followed with an RBI single and Ryan Goins hit a tworun single.
TWINS: Minnesota outfielder Torii Hunter dropped the appeal of his twogame suspension and started serving it Saturday.
Hunter was in the original lineup for Saturday’s game at Texas. His decision was announced by the Twins about an hour before the scheduled first pitch in the middle game of a threegame series.
After sitting out consecutive day games Saturday and Sunday, Hunter will be reinstated before Monday’s game at St. Louis.
Major League Baseball on Friday suspended Hunter and also fined him an undisclosed amount for his equipmentthrowing tantrum during Wednesday’s home game against Kansas City.
Hunter said Friday that he was appealing, calling the twosuspension a “little harsh” before playing in the game.
MARINERS: Seattle designated Rickie Weeks for assignment and recalled righthander Danny Farquhar from TripleA Tacoma.
The moves come after Seattle had to use its bullpen for 5 ²/₃ innings on Thursday and 7 ²/₃ innings on Friday in tough starts by J.A. Happ and Felix Hernandez.
Manager Lloyd McClendon said he appreciated what Weeks brought to the team, but “with the stress that we had on the bullpen it was just a move that we had to make.”
ROYALS: Kansas City placed a starting pitcher on the 15day disabled list, but not the one many had been expecting.
The move with lefty Jason Vargas, who has a strained left forearm, is backdated to June 9. Manager Ned Yost is hopeful Yordano Ventura, who was removed because of right hand weakness Friday night, can make his next start.