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Twins fall despite Grossman’s stellar debut
- Updated: May 21, 2016
MINNEAPOLIS — Aaron Sanchez tossed seven strong innings and was backed by homers from Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Michael Saunders and Darwin Barney in a 9-3 win for the Blue Jays that handed the Twins their fifth straight loss on Friday night at Target Field.
Sanchez gave up two runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts to get his fourth win of the year. Left fielder Robbie Grossman, making his Twins debut, homered and drove in all three Minnesota runs.
Twins right-hander Tyler Duffey, who entered with a 1.85 ERA in four starts this year, turned in his worst outing of the season, surrendering six runs on nine hits and a walk over 5 2/3 frames. Duffey has a 14.09 ERA in two career starts against Toronto, but a 2.13 ERA in his other 13 Major League starts.
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“I was missing a lot, especially to the righties with the breaking ball,” said Duffey, who fell to 1-3 with a 3.30 ERA. “Instead of knowing what I could do, I was trying to be too fine with some breaking balls. I felt good, but after the fifth I kinda laid an egg. And the rest is history.”
Donaldson got Toronto on the board with a two-run blast in the third. The Blue Jays broke the game open with a five-run sixth, capped by Bautista’s three-run shot. Jimmy Paredes hit an RBI single with two outs to chase Duffey before Bautista’s homer. Saunders added a solo shot off Taylor Rogers in the seventh, while Barney launched a solo blast in the eighth off Michael Tonkin.
“[The starting pitchers] have been keeping us in ballgames all year long,” Saunders said. “It’s been pretty inconsistent as far as offense goes. We talked about how big of a ballgame that was last night, how big of a win that was. Then to come out here and do what we did tonight, hopefully we’d love it if the floodgates just started opening.”
MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDTop of the line: The opportunities were there for the Blue Jays’ new-look lineup on Thursday in an extra-inning win. On Friday, they took full advantage, breaking out of an offensive slump in a …
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