Guerrero hits 46th HR, but Twins hit 3 in row, top Blue Jays

TORONTO (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connected for his major league-leading 46th homer, but Jorge Polanco, Josh Donaldson, and Miguel Sanó hit consecutive homers as the Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 Friday night.

The Blue Jays began the day tied with the Red Sox and Yankees atop the AL wild-card race. Toronto fell to 13-3 in September.

Guerrero hit a solo homer in the third that pulled Toronto within 5-3. He was tied with Kansas City’s Salvador Perez for the homer lead going into the game.

Michael Pineda (7-8) pitched 5 2-3 innings to win his third straight start, allowing three runs and three hits. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.63 ERA in September after going 0-3 with a 5.88 ERA in August.

Jorge Alcala worked 1 1-3 innings, Tyler Duffey struck out the side in the eighth and Alex Colomé finished in the ninth as Minnesota won for the second time in six games.

After giving up seven runs in 2 1-3 innings against lowly Baltimore in his previous outing, Blue Jays left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu (13-9) couldn’t make it past the third again, leaving after allowing four straight hits.

The last of those hits were the homers by Polanco, his 31st, and Donaldson, his 23rd. Ryu is 2-4 with an 8.10 ERA in his past eight starts.

Ross Stripling relieved and gave up Sanó’s homer on his fourth pitch. The homer was Sanó’s 29th.

Reinstated from the paternity list before the game, Minnesota’s Brent Rooker hit an RBI double off Ryu in the second and homered off Julian Merryweather in the sixth.

Twins shortstop Andrelton Simmons didn’t travel to Canada with the team because of a visa issue and was placed on the restricted list. Manager Rocco Baldelli said Simmons is in the midst of applying for permanent residency in the United States, meaning he is unable to cross the border....

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Guerrero-hits-46th-HR-but-Twins-hit-3-in-row-16468796.php