Simmons’ 3 hits not enough vs. Blue Jays

TORONTO — Russell Martin continued his torrid hitting to pace Toronto’s offense, while R.A. Dickey notched another strong outing to lead the Blue Jays over the Angels, 7-2, on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.

Though he’d normally receive a day off with Dickey on the mound, Martin went 3-for-3 out of the DH spot and drove in a pair of runs to help the Blue Jays open their six-game homestand with a victory. Michael Saunders also added his 21st home run of the season, while Troy Tulowitzki continued his strong August with an RBI double as part of Toronto’s 10-hit attack.

“He’s smoking hot right now,” Blue Jays manager Gibbons said about Martin. “He was due for that, he’s been a good hitter his whole career. He’s really seeing the ball. He probably likes DHing because it’s not as physically demanding, so that can never hurt.”

Dickey kept the Angels at bay all evening, tossing 6 2/3 innings and limiting Los Angeles to just two runs on Nick Buss’ first career Major League home run. After a difficult month of July, the veteran knuckleballer has allowed two runs or fewer in three of his last four starts. With the win the Blue Jays keep a share of the top spot in the American League East, as the Red Sox defeated Rays at Tropicana Field.

“It’s all about the process and trying to execute the mechanics I need to in order to produce good results,” Dickey said. “All I can focus on is execution and process, and tonight the result was favorable, but I’ve been pretty close all year in a number of outings, I just haven’t had the same results. I’ve had better knuckleballs this year and given up more runs, it’s just the nature of the beast sometimes.”

• Dickey guts out win to continue strong August

Angels starter Tyler Skaggs continued to struggle on Tuesday, lasting four-plus innings while giving up four runs and walking a season-high five batters. Skaggs fell to 0-3 with 19 earned runs allowed in 17 2/3 innings over his last four …

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