After David Price struck out 11 Minnesota Twins in his Toronto Blue Jays debut, the two teams met again in the second game of the series on Tuesday night. The Twins sent Phil Hughes to the mound, while Toronto countered with Marco Estrada.
Toronto got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when Josh Donaldson hit a home run to left-center field to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead over Minnesota.
Toronto added another run in the third inning when newly acquired shortstop Troy Tulowitzki hit a home run to left field to extend the Toronto lead to 2-0.
Minnesota responded in the fourth inning when Brian Dozier led off the inning with an infield single. After Joe Mauer struck out, Trevor Plouffe drew a walk to advance Dozier to second base. Miguel Sano then walked to load the bases for Torii Hunter, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Dozier and cut the deficit to 2-1. The Twins were unable to score any more in the inning after Eddie Rosario struck out looking.
Toronto scored again in the sixth inning after Edwin Encarnacion hit a double to left field. He would then advance to third when Russell Martin flew out to Torii Hunter. Encarnacion would then score on a Dioner Navarro double to right field. That would be the end of the night for Hughes, as the Twins would bring in Ryan O’Rourke to finish the inning.
O’Rourke would not fare well, as he gave up a single to Ryan Goins, who then advanced to second base when the throw from Aaron Hicks was not cut off. The Twins then intentionally walked Kevin Pillar to load the bases for former Twin Ben Revere, who would end the inning by flying out to right field to limit the damage to one run.
After two quick outs in the seventh inning, Eddie Rosario hit a two-out double off the right field wall that looked for a minute like it would be a home run. However, it hit the top of the wall and Rosario wound up with a double. The Blue Jays then decided to bring in Mark Lowe to finish the inning. The Twins would fail to score as Hicks flew out to left field to end the inning.
Miguel Sano gave the Twins some hope in the ninth when he drew a two-out walk. He would then be replaced by Eduardo Escobar, who came in to pinch run. That brought up Torii Hunter, who flew out to right field to end the game and give Toronto a 3-1 victory. The two teams meet again on Wednesday night when Tyler Duffey makes his major league debut for the Twins, while Toronto counters with Drew Hutchinson.
Win: Marco Estrada (9-6)
Loss: Phil Hughes (10-7)
Save: Roberto Osuna (8)