Donaldson 2 HRs, Blue Jays beat Yankees 7-5; Judge hits 18th

Only Carlos Delgado (19 in 2000) and John Olerud (17 in 1993) have hit more doubles in one month for the Blue Jays.

The Toronto Blue Jays will be going with somewhat of an unknown quantity Friday night when Francisco Liriano comes off the disabled list to start against the New York Yankees. But the four he allowed on Thursday jumped his first inning total to 10 runs allowed in 12 outings.

Brett Gardner reached third base when left fielder Ezequiel Carrera dropped his long fly to lead off the game. He will take the roster spot of right-hander Mike Bolsinger, who was designated for assignment. They left seven runners on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. He drove in three runs. The blast snapped Liriano’s stretch of 18 scoreless innings against the Yankees, a streak that dated to 2012.

Joe Smith has thrived as the setup man while Ryan Tepera, Danny Barnes, Aaron Loup and the recently demoted Dominic Leone pitched effectively in middle relief. Matt Holliday also went 3 for 5 batting cleanup behind Judge, who didn’t have as big of an impact, though he did single and drive in a run.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jason Vargas threw a complete-game shutout as Kansas City won a challenge and a game, beating Cleveland.

Michael Pineda had been so good for much of this season, making it easy to forget the inconsistency that had plagued the vast majority of his career. But Travis hit into a double play.

Johnny Cueto threw the last complete-game shutout for the Royals on August 10, 2015, against Detroit. In his 59.2 innings and 6-2 record this year, Pineda has a 3.32 ERA and 56 Ks.

He needed 29 pitches to get out of a disastrous first inning that saw NY send eight men to the plate and score four runs. The Mets have lost three straight. “It’s basically what he did to me last time at their place”. And when the Yankees again pulled to within a run in the top of the seventh, the Jays again immediately responded with a run of their own. Donaldson crushed his second homer of the night off of a Jonathan Holder hanging curveball.

It was the fourth multihomer game of Sanchez’s career. The 15 hits aren’t even their season high against that Jays. “When they needed that big homer in this series, they got it”. Houston has won six straight.

Arizona got a home run and three RBIs from Paul Goldschmidt.

And Sabathia also hit a personal milestone in Thursday’s first inning; with strikeouts of Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista, the veteran lefty moved past Frank Tanana for sole possession of fourth place on the all-time strikeout list for left-handers. The win was the fourth in a row for Sabathia, who hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of those four starts. Arcenio Leon worked the eighth and Blaine Hardy the ninth for the Tigers.

The big blow was a bases-loaded double by Hicks that scored three of the NY runs. Tim Anderson had an RBI single and Melky Cabrera a sacrifice fly in the inning, which began with the Tigers leading 10-1. Toronto added another in the fourth when Pineda threw one into the dirt that NY catcher Gary Sanchez couldn’t handle, scoring Luke Maile from third.

Travis homered on a two-out, full-count pitch in the seventh inning, his fifth. The only problem for Holliday was that Donaldson was in the way, dropping to a knee to pick the liner off the ground, quickly firing to second, and starting an inning-ending double-play on a ball that could have scored two and extended an inning in which Liriano had already thrown 24 pitches. His final line 5IP 2 Earned Runs.

The third inning was when it really started to feel like it just wasn’t their night.