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MINNEAPOLIS — The Toronto Blue Jays have moved on, to another city and another series, but they can't escape their unsavoury past.
As the Blue Jays were preparing to bat in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins, a replay of Toronto hitting into a rare unassisted triple-play the night before in Cleveland was shown on the outfield video screen at the Metrodome.
"The Blue Jays just ran themselves into oblivion," the announcer blared on the play.
The Jays will have to live with that unhappy memory for some time, but they have at least taken their first baby steps toward redemption.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Jesse Litsch, right, leaves the mound after giving the ball to manager John Gibbons during the sixth inning Tuesday night. (Tom Olmscheid/Associated Press)
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For once displaying an aptitude for clutch hits, the Jays won the first of three games against the Minnesota Twins, pounding out 10 hits en route to a 5-3 victory last night.
"We're starting to see some signs of some good things," Toronto manager John Gibbons said.
Matt Stairs homered and Jesse Litsch, 5-1, went 52/3 innings and allowed two Minnesota runs on four hits as the Jays, 19-22, improved to 2-3 on their 10-game trip.
"I'm not going to say it's going to turn our year around, but it's got to give us a little more positive outlook when we get up there to hit, more confidence," said Stairs, who has five home runs this season.
With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Gregg Zaun ripped a line drive to left field that scored tagging Kevin Mench from third base to put Toronto in front 5-2.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Toronto called on veteran reliever Armando Benitez, who was called up last week from Triple-A Syracuse, for his first appearance for the Jays.
On Benitez's first pitch, Minnesota pinch hitter Jason Kubel homered to right field to cut Toronto's lead to 5-3.
B.J. Ryan, who earned the victory in Cleveland on Monday, pitched the ninth inning, the first time he has thrown in consecutive games since coming back from elbow surgery.
Ryan allowed a leadoff single to Michael Cuddyer, but then set down the next three batters to earn his sixth save.
The Jays began their trip in rocky fashion in Cleveland, where the Jays lost three of four games to the Indians.
Toronto's lack of clutch hitting has been its downfall all season and it looked early last night that the annoying trend was going to continue.
With one out in the first inning, Toronto's Aaron Hill singled to Carlos Gomez in centre field, but Gomez made a terrible throw back to the infield and the ball went out of bounds down the third-base line.
It was ruled a two-base throwing error and Hill found himself perched at third base.
Minnesota pitcher Kevin Slowey then struck out the next two Toronto batters — Alex Rios looking and Rolen swinging — to nullify the threat.
Gomez started the scoring for Minnesota in the third inning, taking a 1-0 pitch from Litsch over the wall in left field, a home run that gave the Twins a 1-0 lead.
Then things started flowing for the Jays in the two-run fourth inning when Stairs was on board with his second walk of the evening. He scored, which tied the score, when Lyle Overbay doubled to the wall in left-centre field.
Overbay then scored when Shannon Stewart knocked a double just over the head of Cuddyer, the Minnesota right fielder, and Toronto led 2-1.
The Jays got busy again in the top of the sixth inning.
After Rolen extended Slowey to a 15-pitch at-bat before grounding out to the shortstop, Stairs stepped up to the plate and uncorked a towering drive to right field for his fifth home run of the season. It provided the Jays with a 3-1 lead.
"I don't want to oversensationalize it, I made an out," said Rolen, who was quick to point out he was 0-for-5 on the night. "Matty made a home run. I think credit should be given where credit's due."
The Twins came right back in their half of the inning when they chased Litsch from the game and scored a run on a triple by Canadian Justin Morneau to trim Toronto's lead back to one.
The Jays restored their two-run margin in the seventh inning when Hill singled to left field to cash in Zaun from second base.
