A sellout crowd at Rogers Centre witnessed a fantastic display of the Blue Jays when they cruised for a comfortable 9-3 win. J.A Happ (3-0) lived up to his reputation as he continues to be one of the most effective starters for the A.L East team with a quality outing. His rubber game counterpart, Chris Bassitt (0-1), had his first rough appearance of the campaign being punished by the Jays.
Mark Canha delivered an early alarm in the ballgame when he took J.A Happ deep to right field and breaking the deadlock. That was Canha´s fourth hit of the year, three of them homers and all of them to the opposite field.
In despite of that early lead, the Blue Jays showed once again why they are one of the most feared lineups in the game. Aided by the A´s wobbly defense (they have committed 16 errors already) they took the lead in the bottom of the first via soft grounders.
Bringer of Rain
Josh Donaldson´s successful MLB career started with the Oakland A´s in 2010 and he quickly became one of the game's elite third basemen and offensive forces. Today he showed his full power with a towering three run blast to straight center that broke the game open.
During the latter innings, Donaldson was hit by a pitch and he stared down at the pitcher but everything remained calm. Kevin Pillar was removed from the leadoff to the ninth spot and he responded well with a couple of base hits.
Tulo is back
Troy Tulowitzki has earned the prestige of being a premium shortstop. His tenure with the Jays has not been as good, having prolonged slumps and not hitting his usual numbers. He hit the first home run of the 2016 season which presumed that he was off to a fast start, nevertheless up to today´s game he was just hitting .150.
All forgotten when he started the bottom of the fifth with a clinical swing that took the ball beyond the left field wall for a solo homer. In the bottom of the seventh he once again crushed the baseball for another solo shot, this time against reliever Liam Hendriks. This couple of hits may be the inflection point Tulo needed to start getting hot.
With an easy lead, the Blue Jays' bullpen had an easy day even resting Roberto Osuna due to the lack of a save situation. Gavin Floyd had a clean ninth, ending the ballgame by inducing Coco Crisp to a groundout that Josh Donaldson handled.
Billy Butler played today in first base and he went 1-4. Ezequiel Carrera had a superb game doing it all. Four hits, an outfield diving catch, and avid baserunning after a pick-off attempt went wrong in the bottom of the eight. Tomorrow´s pitching duel for the series finale involves Eric Surkamp (0-1) from the A´s and Drew Hutchinson (0-0), recently recalled from Triple A, for the Jays.