Sharp Stroman gets plenty of help from his friends

MINNEAPOLIS — Marcus Stroman was on top of his game Sunday afternoon against the Twins. Even when he wasn’t, he had plenty of support behind him.

Stroman allowed one run on three hits and a pair of walks in 7 2/3 superb innings, leading the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win at Target Field.

The young right-hander followed in the steps of lefty J.A. Happ, who allowed just one hit through seven excellent innings on Saturday. Stroman, too, gave up just one hit through seven, using his two-seam fastball effectively to work ahead in counts and keep the Twins off-balance.

“It felt great today,” Stroman said. “It felt like I was commanding it all day and I was able to get that depth from it early on and just really used it and tried to locate it as best I could all game.”

It helped that Stroman also had three runs of support before throwing his first pitch.

The Blue Jays got back-to-back home runs to lead off the game by Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson, as well as an RBI double by Troy Tulowitzki later in the inning, to give Stroman an early boost.

“That was awesome,” Stroman said. “That definitely gives me a little more …

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