Toronto Blue Jays vs Oakland Athletics Match Player Stats On Jun 07, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 7, 2017

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Josh Donaldson hit a tie-breaking, two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning, and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Oakland A's 7-5 on Wednesday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum.

Justin Smoak hit two solo home runs -- one in the second inning and one in the 10th -- and Kevin Pillar hit a three-run homer in the second for Toronto. Smoak now has 17 home runs for the season, three shy of his career high.

Leading off the 10th, Pillar fell behind in the count 0-2, but Frankie Montas hit him with a pitch. Then Donaldson crushed Montas' 1-2, 98-mph fastball over the left-center field fence for a home run against his former team, putting the Blue Jays ahead 6-4.

The home run was No. 7 of the season for Donaldson, who went 1-for-2 with three walks.

Two batters later, Smoak homered to right-center off Montas (1-1), who has allowed nine home runs this season

Blue Jays right-hander Roberto Osuna gave up a run in the bottom of the 10th but got his 14th save of the season. Rajai Davis doubled with two outs and scored on Matt Joyce's single before Osuna struck out Jed Lowrie.

After losing the first two games in the series, Toronto avoided the sweep.

Toronto's Danny Barnes pitched perfect sixth and seventh innings with three strikeouts in relief of Francisco Liriano. Joe Smith pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts, and Ryan Tepera (4-1) a perfect ninth with one strikeout.

Rajai Davis went 4-for-5 with a triple and two doubles and scored four runs for the A's. He matched his career high for hits. Trevor Plouffe hit a solo home run, and Khris Davis had a double and two RBIs in four at-bats.

Liriano allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits over five innings in a no-decision. Making his second start since a stint on the disabled list for right shoulder inflammation, Liriano struck out five, walked one and threw 92 pitches.

A's right-hander Jharel Cotton gave up four runs on four hits over six innings, striking out four and walking four. He blanked the Blue Jays in five of his six innings but gave up four runs and two homers in the second inning. Cotton made his third start since being recalled from Triple-A Nashville on May 27.

A's right-hander John Axford pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing no hits and one walk. Liam Hendriks threw two perfect innings.

The A's took a 1-0 lead in the first when Rajai Davis hit a leadoff double to center field, moved to third on wild pitch and scored on Khris Davis' double.

Toronto answered with four runs in the second. Smoak led off with an opposite-field home run to left-center field, his 16th blast of the season.

Cotton struck out the next two batters he faced, but then he walked Chris Coghlan and gave up a single to Ryan Goins. Pillar followed with a three-run shot to left center, his eighth homer of the season, making it 4-1.

Oakland cut Toronto's lead to 4-2 with an unearned run in the third. Rajai Davis hit a leadoff single and moved to second when shortstop Troy Tulowitzki booted Chad Pinder's one-hopper. He scored with one out from third on Khris Davis' ground out.

Plouffe made it 4-3 in the fourth with a leadoff home run to left that snapped his career-high 0-for-25 streak.

Then in the fifth, Rajai Davis led off with a triple to deep left field that Coghlan couldn't grab and scored on Pinder's sacrifice fly to make it 4-4.

NOTES: Oakland 1B Yonder Alonso, who has a career-high 16 home runs, was out of the starting lineup but pinch hit in the 10th and remained in the game. ... A's RF Matt Joyce (strained right quad), who missed Tuesday's game, pinch hit in the eighth inning and remained in the game in right field. ... Blue Jays C Russell Martin returned to the lineup after getting a day off Tuesday. ... The Blue Jays have used the disabled list 18 times this season, the most in the American League. They used the DL 14 times the entire 2016 season.