 continues to rebound from a tough nine-game stretch earlier this year where he went 0-5 with a 9.52 ERA. Since then, he's 5-1 and extended his string of allowing three earned runs or fewer to nine of his last 11 outings.''I'd like to finish strong, open up some eyes maybe and hopefully get the chance to come back here,'' Estrada said. ''You want to keep winning. It's a little late now, but we're still out there busting our butts.'' He sure looked like a playoff pitcher Saturday, allowing two homers but not much else. Aside from solo shots by Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar, the Twins didn't get a runner in scoring position until Joe Mauer's leadoff double in the ninth, when the game was already well out of reach.''He kept us off balance pretty much all night and it's tough when a guy's on like that,'' said Byron Buxton, who ended his six-game hitting streak.Donaldson gave the Blue Jays a lead in the first by sending a first-pitch shot off Adalberto Mejia (4-6) into the second deck in left-center. He also led off the fourth with a single and came around to score on Jose Bautista's single. A batter later, Kendrys Morales drove in Justin Smoak with a single.Estrada took care of the rest, retiring 12 of his final 15 batters after he allowed three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.''After the trade deadline, I think he just kind of kicked it back in gear,'' manager John Gibbons said. ''We knew it was just a little blip that he'd pull through.'' Matt Dermody pitched a scoreless ninth for Toronto.BAUTISTA BUSTS HIS SKIDNothing like a trip to Minnesota for Bautista to cure his 0-for-17 skid. Bautista, whose 14 homers at Target Field are the most of any non-Twins player at the ballpark, had three hits and an RBI. ''I expect to see him hit a home run before he leaves here,'' Gibbons said. ''He normally does.'' DONALDSON'S BOMBSDonaldson now leads the AL with 19 homers since the All-Star break. ''I've been seeing a lot of fastballs up in the zone pretty much all season long,'' he said. ''There's times when I'm swinging and missing at it, and there's times when I'm connecting with it. The times that I connect with it, good things normally happen for me.'' MEJIA'S RETURNMaking his first start since a biceps injury last month sidelined him for 35 games, Mejia seemed to recover after Donaldson's homer and retired eight straight batters before getting chased in the fourth. Still, the rookie said he felt good afterward. ''Some of the selection and location might have been off a little bit and he had to pay the price for that,'' Molitor said.TRAINER'S ROOMTwins: Molitor said the plan is keep Miguel Sano (shin) in Minnesota when the team starts a 10-game trip in New York next week. Molitor added it's possible the first baseman may need to go to New York for a personal reason. ''It just hasn't been a great week,'' the manager said of Sano's slow recovery.UP NEXT:Blue Jays: RHP Joe Biagini (3-10) returns to the mound after throwing a career-high eight innings on Tuesday in a 3-2 win against Baltimore.Twins: RHP Kyle Gibson (10-10) tries to even the four-game series. He last pitched against Toronto on Aug. 27, when he threw 6 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on seven hits in Minnesota's 7-2 victory.---More baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Blue Jays left to play spoilers against Twins 1h ago• 2 min read MINNEAPOLIS -- The Toronto Blue Jays never imagined they would be at the bottom of the American League East standings in September. Toronto is left to spoil the playoff hopes of others and finish off the season strong going into next year.On Saturday against the Minnesota Twins, that task falls to Marco Estrada (8-8, 4.96 ERA), who face Twins rookie left-hander Adalberto Mejia (4-5, 4.47)."You always want to finish strong," Toronto's J. A. Happ said after pitching 6 1/3 steady innings in Friday's 4-3 win. "Right now, like I said, I feel good out there. Just want to finish strong. We're still competing. Regardless of what the standings say, we still want to win ballgames." The two teams have split the first two games of the four-game series as Minnesota won in extra innings on Thursday on a Byron Buxton home run.Estrada's ERA had stretched above 5.00 after struggling in the middle of the season. But he has allowed just two runs over his last two starts and 12 innings.The veteran right-hander is coming off a win against the Baltimore Orioles after giving up two runs in five innings. He pitched seven scoreless innings in the start prior. The strong finish becomes even more important as Estrada faces free agency at the end of the season."It's always how you finish, right?" Estrada said after his last outing. "If I can show I'm back to my normal self, what I've done for the last few years for these guys, maybe they'll want me back, and I'm hoping to come back." Estrada, who has a career-high 166 strikeouts this season, gave up three runs in six innings in beating Minnesota on Aug. 26 in his only start against the Twins this season. In his career, Estrada is 2-2 with a 4.26 ERA in nine career games, including seven starts, against the Twins.Minnesota had its three-game winning streak snapped on Friday but still hold the second wild-card spot in the American League by two games. The Twins have made a dramatic push in the standings since Aug. 2, but Mejia has mostly been a spectator in that time.Mejia has been out since Aug. 9 with a left arm brachialis strain. He made two rehab starts at Triple-A and was 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA."With Mejia, he has done some good things for us this year," manager Paul Molitor told the Star Tribune after announcing Mejia would rejoin the rotation. "His rehab has been efficient. He's proven that he is ready to come back, and hopefully help us." Mejia, who has never faced Toronto, has had a mixed season. He started the season in the rotation but was sent back to Triple-A after three starts. He returned in late May and became one of the team's most consistent starters as it searched for help behind All-Star Ervin Santana.In his most recent start, on Aug. 8 against Milwaukee, he gave up seven hits and three runs in three innings.Mejia allowed eight earned runs in one outing in June, but has a 3.52 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 46 innings over his last nine starts. A steady performance from Mejia could solidify the rotation that has found depth behind Santana and Jose Berrios with Bartolo Colon and Kyle Gibson improving.
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