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Thomas hits two homers off Santana as Jays pound Twins

Jul 24, 2007 - 3:36 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Johan Santana has devastated opponents after the All-Star Break. Frank Thomas and the Toronto Blue Jays weren't impressed.

Thomas hit half of the career-high four homers slugged off Santana to lead the Blue Jays to a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday in the first game of a three-game series.

Three relievers combined for three shutout innings for Toronto, which won its third straight game.

Santana (11-8), who entered with 41 wins in his last 46 second-half decisions, lasted just five innings, yielding six runs and seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

"It's tough. Johan, you can probably count on one hand how many times he's given up more then three runs all year," said Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau, who hit two home runs. "It's too bad we couldn't pick him up."

The two-time Cy Young Award winner got off to a bad start, as Reed Johnson led off the Jays' first by hitting a second-pitch fastball over the left field wall. Four batters later, Thomas deposited a 1-1 offering to center field for a quick 3-0 lead.

"Tonight I was trying to make some adjustments and it didn't work out," Santana said. "Those guys were aggressive. They were swinging right away and it seemed like the ball was flying today for both teams. I made a couple of mistakes, but at the same time threw pretty good pitches and they put good swings."

Alex Rios led off the third with his 20th blast of the season and Thomas drilled another two-run shot to center - his 16th of the season - in the fifth to extend the margin to 6-3.

The blasts, Thomas' first since July 1, helped him snap a 2-for-17 skid and gave him 503 homers for his career.

"It's my best night as a Blue Jay, for sure," Thomas said. "I've hit the ball on and off it's just not been the consistency that I'm capable of. Hopefully this can get me on a little roll or get me going in the right direction for the rest of the season." Santana, who entered 5-1 with a 1.62 ERA in his last seven starts, made it through five innings for the 112th straight start but fell to 2-4 in 10 games all-time against the Jays.

The power explosion was enough for Toronto starter Shaun Marcum (6-4), who improved to 5-2 as a starter despite yielding two homers to Morneau and a third to Torii Hunter.

Marcum left after six frames, allowing four runs and eight hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

"When you're going up against Santana you never know what you're going to get," Marcum said. "I just had to battle out there and try to keep our team in the game. It was nice that the guys were swinging them hot and swinging them early."

Morneau, a New Westminister, British Columbia native, led off the second with his 27th homer of the season and followed Joe Mauer's leadoff triple in the fourth with another drive to right field to cut the Twins' deficit to 4-3.

"It doesn't really matter if you lose the game," said Morneau, whose first home run of the game was his first ever hit on Canadian soil.

After Thomas' second homer, Hunter belted his 21st of the season in the sixth.

Casey Janssen retired all five batters he faced and Scott Downs got the final out of the eighth before closer Jeremy Accardo logged the ninth for his 16th save in 19 opportunities.