Clement gets winning hit as Blue Jays rally to beat red-hot Twins 10-8
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Ernie Clement broke an 8-all tie with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays overcame a six-run deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 10-8 on Saturday.
Danny Jansen hit a two-run home run while Bo Bichette and Davis Schneider each hit solo homers for the Blue Jays, who came in having lost six of eight.
“The confidence hasn’t wavered,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Hopefully this type of win gets you rolling a little bit.”
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 4 for 5 with three RBIs in his 11th multihit game of the season as the Blue Jays used season highs of 10 runs and 16 hits to cool off the Twins. Minnesota had won 16 of 18.
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“We’re kind of getting everybody together at the same time,” Guerrero said through a translator. “That’s what we want.”
Guerrero tied it at 8-all with a two-run, two-out single off Steven Okert in the sixth inning.
“They couldn’t stop us early in the game and we couldn’t stop them in the middle of the game and late in the game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We just couldn’t get them out. No matter who we threw, no matter what good matchup we thought we might have had, they just kept coming like we did early.”
After two Blue Jays batters reached against Jay Jackson (1-2) to begin the seventh, pinch hitter George Springer walked and Clement broke the tie with a single to shallow center off Caleb Thielbar. Davis Schneider followed with a sacrifice fly.
Carlos Santana hit a three-run home run and Ryan Jeffers had a solo homer for the Twins, whose seven-game road winning streak was snapped one win shy of matching the club record.
Twins batters have homered at least once in 19 consecutive games in Toronto, the second-longest such streak in team history. Minnesota homered in 21 straight games at Kansas City between July 30, 1998, and Aug. 25, 2001.
Blue Jays reliever Erik Swanson (1-2) pitched one scoreless inning for the win. Yimi Garcia worked the eighth, his first appearance since April 28 after missing time because of a sore back.
Jordan Romano pitched around a two-out double in the ninth to earn his sixth save in six chances.
The Twins roughed up Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman, who allowed a season-worst seven runs, six earned, and a season-high 10 hits in three innings. Gausman has a 6.94 ERA in 12 career starts against Minnesota.
“I pitched plenty bad enough to get a loss today,” Gausman said.
Bichette’s leadoff drive in the second was his second of the season and first since April 9.
Davis Schneider homered to begin the fifth, his fourth. Later in the inning, Jansen hit a two-run home run off Cole Sands, his fourth.
Minnesota’s Max Kepler had two hits, extending his career-long hitting streak to 13 games.
Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. Woods Richardson pitched in Toronto’s minor league system from 2019 to 2021.
Up next
RHP Bailey Ober (3-1, 4.42 ERA) starts for the Twins in Sunday’s series finale. RHP Alek Manoah (0-0, 13.50) makes his second start of the season for the Blue Jays.