For the fifth time this season, the Toronto Blue Jays pulled off a sweep. They now sit at the top of the American League East, two games up on Boston and three ahead of Baltimore in advance of a series against the Orioles.
Here are our takeaways from the three-game set against the Minnesota Twins.
Hats off to JD
Josh Donaldson is quite good. On Sunday, he hit three home runs—his 31st, 32nd and 33rd of the season. Fans threw their hats on the field, hockey style. He’s the 16th Blue Jay in history to slug three in a single game. (Edwin Encarnacion did it last season, right around this time.)
Donaldson did this despite driving a ball into the outside of his right knee during one at-bat—he later told reporters it felt like he’d been “shot,” though he made it clear he’s never actually been shot before. That’s good. Obviously the knee injury didn’t hinder his bat. He’s now reached base safely in 23 of his last 24 games.
Donaldson also said hitting three dingers in a game was on his bucket list. Check!
A side note: We ran into the Blue Jays’ unofficial barber ahead of this series, and he said Donaldson’s hair is the most fun to cut because “he lets me do anything.”
Look who’s back in town
It’s veteran catcher Dioner Navarro, who Toronto acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox. The big question is what does this mean for Josh Thole? He played Sunday, catching for R.A. Dickey as he always does, and then he told reporters his future is up in the air.
Thole didn’t join the rest of the team on the flight to Baltimore, and the Jays put him on irrevocable waivers. That means another team has 48 hours to claim him.
Toronto could re-sign him, but he won’t be eligible for the playoffs because he wouldn’t be on the team’s 40-man roster before Sept. 1. This isn’t good news for Thole.
Bautista’s bat
Slightly lost in the excitement on Sunday (because of Donaldson’s hat trick) was the fact Jose Bautista had his first three-hit game of the season. He hit a double in the first inning, and has now hit doubles in five of his last six games.
It’s a pretty good time of year to be heating up.
Also hitting for the Blue Jays…
Speaking of warm Jays bats, they were on display in the opener of this series. Justin Smoak and Russell Martin recorded five RBI apiece in Toronto’s 15-8 win on Friday.
The monkey is off Smoak’s back, too: He was 0 for his last 29 with runners in scoring position, but a three-run homer ended that drought.
“A peculiar inning”
R.A. Dickey gave up four runs in the fifth inning on Sunday—two walks, a wild pitch and a passed ball took care of that. After the game he called it “the story of my career, a peculiar inning.”
Obviously the Blue Jays are hoping those peculiar innings stop happening. Lucky for Dickey the Jays’ bats bailed him out this time.
Inside-the-park magic
There really is nothing like an inside-the-park home run, right? It was a comedy of Twins errors that made that happen and sparked Toronto’s comeback in Game 2 of this series.
Melvin Upton Jr. earned his first-ever inside-the-park home run after his hit bounced past Max Kepler in right field, and then between Kepler and centre-fielder Eddie Rosario, they couldn’t even pick up the ball before Upton Jr. had touched home plate. Magic.
