Jays Cruise In Second Of Four With Minnesota
Posted August 11, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Suddenly, the Jays keep winning – which is good, because at this point they pretty much have to.
Toronto took another big step toward reintroducing itself to the American League Wild Card race Friday night, jumping all over Minnesota rookie hurler Matt Garza and cruising to a 7-1 win.
Garza (0-1) was shaky making his first Major League start, giving up seven runs on eight hits and going just 2 2/3 innings.
For the Jays, the big blasts came from Reed Johnson and John McDonald, who both hit two-run bombs off the rookie.
Frank Catalanotto added two hits and scored twice.
Jays starter A.J. Burnett (4-5) was pretty much the exact opposite of his counterpart, going seven strong innings allowing just one run, and only giving up seven hits while striking out 10.
Minnesota’s only run came in the seventh when Jason Bartlett slapped an RBI double.
With the win, the Jays have now gotten the job done in five of their last six games. They’re now within 5.5 games of the Twins, and 6.5 games of the Wild Card leading Chicago White Sox. The Boston Red Sox also sit between Toronto and the fourth and final playof birth in the AL.
Looking ahead to Saturday it’ll be a battle of the Scotts, as southpaw Scott Downs (5-1) goes for the Blue Birds against Scott Baker (4-7) for the Twinkies.
