Pujols’ milestone leaves Jays, O’s knotted

ANAHEIM — The Blue Jays had a prime opportunity to take sole possession of the first American League Wild Card spot but Ricky Nolasco and a milestone homer from Albert Pujols made sure that would not happen for at least one more day.

Nolasco tossed six scoreless innings and Pujols hit his 30th home run of the season in Los Angeles’ 6-1 victory on Saturday night at Angel Stadium. With the loss, the Blue Jays dropped to three games back of Boston for first place in the American League East and they remained tied with Baltimore for the top AL Wild Card spot.

Toronto’s offense continued its September woes and Nolasco was the main reason why. The veteran right-hander scattered five hits and two walks while striking out seven en route to a third quality start in his last four outings.

Toronto finished 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. The leadoff hitter got a hit in all but one inning against Nolasco, but the righty was effective out of the stretch.

“It’s a very tough lineup and I didn’t want to face them with guys on base right from the get-go. That’s just how it was,” Nolasco said. “I made some mistakes to get those leadoff guys on and just tried to bear down and make some good pitches after that. Pitch count ran up a little bit. They were fouling off a lot of pitches and laying off a lot of good pitches just because I had to go straight to work, no get-me-overs.”

Pujols and Kole Calhoun had the lone extra-base hits on the night for Los Angeles but the Angels still managed to piece together a well-rounded offensive attack. Shane Robinson, Mike Trout and Andrelton Simmons chipped in with RBI singles while Jefry Marte brought home the club’s other run with an infield grounder.

Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis extended his hitting streak to a personal-best 14 games in the losing effort. He hit a pair of singles and a double but the Blue Jays could not find a way to bring him around to score during any of those ensuing opportunities. Toronto ranks third-worst in the AL with 55 runs scored during the …

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