Twins 7 - 9 Blue Jays
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Aug 5, 2015 - 3:54 AM As the Toronto Blue Jays continue to surge, the Minnesota Twins can't seem to shake their lingering struggles.

The Blue Jays can record a fourth consecutive victory by handing the visiting Twins their fourth loss in a row Wednesday night.

Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson each homered to help Toronto (56-52) move ahead of Minnesota in the AL wild-card standings with a 3-1 victory Tuesday. The Blue Jays have won six of seven after falling 3-2 to Philadelphia to open a 10-game homestand.

The Twins (54-52), meanwhile, have dropped 12 of 16 and been held to one run in three straight contests and four of the last five. They've managed 16 hits in those five contests, including five in the first half of this four-game series.

''The thing we've done great all year is not worry about what's happened the day before so we're not going to let it get to us now,'' said infielder Trevor Plouffe, who is 1 for 10 in the last three games.

Donaldson continues to shine opposite the Twins, batting .398 with six home runs and 20 RBIs during a 22-game hitting streak against them - the longest active streak for any player against an opponent. He's hit .379 with four of his 28 home runs - one shy of his career high - and 10 RBIs in the last seven games overall.

''He's had a very good year, an MVP-caliber year,'' said Toronto bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who ran the team Tuesday while manager John Gibbons served a one-game suspension for his role in Sunday's brawl with Kansas City.

Toronto has won all six contests started by Tulowitzki, who is batting .333 with two homers and five RBIs in seven games since coming over from Colorado.

Donaldson and Tulowitzki provide a daunting challenge for Minnesota's Tyler Duffey, who makes his major league debut Wednesday. Called up to replace the injured Tommy Milone, Duffey went 6-8 with a 2.66 ERA and allowed one home run in 21 starts this season between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Rochester.

"I can't even put into words what it feels like to be here right now," the right-hander told MLB's official website. "I'm excited to be here.

"I just have to go out and compete. I'm just going to try to go out and pitch my game and try to give my team a chance to win.

He'll be opposed by Drew Hutchison (9-2, 5.42 ERA), who went 1-1 with a 6.93 ERA in five July starts but throws at home where he's received an average of 6.24 runs of support while going 7-1 with a 2.47 ERA in 10. The right-hander allowed four runs and seven hits in five-plus innings but Toronto won its sixth straight home contest with him on the mound, 7-6 over Kansas City in 11 innings Friday.

Hutchison gave up four runs and seven hits over 5 1-3 innings while not factoring in the decision of a 6-5 loss May 31 at Minnesota. He's 2-1 with a 9.00 ERA and has a major league-leading 9.53 run-support average in 11 road starts.

All-Star Brian Dozier is 4 for 6 with three doubles against Hutchison but is batting .152 with 12 strikeouts in the last eight games.






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