The Blue Jays are in a wild race to reach the American League playoffs and will accept any helping hand, no matter how small.
The Queen City representatives were supported by the Minnesota Twins in a 13-9 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday. They defeated the Texas Rangers (75-59), a team that the Jays (74-61) can soon overtake in the standings.
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Toronto definitely needs to use its visit to the poor Rocky Mountains (49-85) to pick up wins. John Schneider’s men opened the scoring in the second half of the game with eight points in the sixth inning.
The ball traveled well to Coors Field for the Jays. Brandon Belt, Danny Jansen and Ernie Clement hit home runs. For the latter, it was the first long ball of his career in the Major Leagues. He also hit a two-run triple in the ninth.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Davis Schneider, Alejandro Kirk and Whit Merrifield added doubles in the seventh inning to extend the visitors’ lead.
The Blue Jays will play two more games against the Rockies on Saturday and Sunday. The Colorado team has the worst record in the National League this season.
Rangers neutralized
Over in Arlington, the Rangers went unanswered against the Twins, scoring just three goals in a 5-1 loss.
The Texas team is in a bad phase with 11 losses in the last 14 games. Thus, it has lost a few points in the rankings and is only 1.5 games ahead of Toronto in the last place, which allows access to the playoffs among drafted teams.
The Twins (70-65) are in a good position in the American West standings and have been playing with confidence lately. Joe Ryan (10-8) kept his team in the game through the first six innings and the relief didn’t work after that.
For the Rangers, Max Scherzer delivered an outstanding performance, allowing just one hit in six innings, but it was the relievers who faltered. Jordan Luplow, Christian Vazquez and Jorge Polanco hit home runs off Brock Burke (5-3) and Josh Sborz.
However, it was a complicated game for Quebec’s Édouard Julien. At the Twins’ designated hitter position, he was struck out three times in as many plate appearances. His batting average fell to .277, his lowest batting average since July 9.