{"id":111922,"date":"2017-08-14T23:04:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T03:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=111922"},"modified":"2017-08-14T23:04:37","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T03:04:37","slug":"donaldson-homers-tepesch-sharp-as-blue-jays-topple-rays-2-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/14\/donaldson-homers-tepesch-sharp-as-blue-jays-topple-rays-2-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Donaldson homers, Tepesch sharp as Blue Jays topple Rays 2 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Donaldson's<\/a>
Donaldson’s two-run homer in the first inning provided the only offence needed for the Blue Jays (57-61), who opened play four games back of a wild card spot. (Photo<\/a> by Toronto Blue Jays\/FACEBOOK<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014 Josh Donaldson hit an early home run, Nick Tepesch pitched six-plus innings and the Toronto Blue Jays held on to edge the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 Monday in the opener of a four-game series between the division rivals.<\/p>\n

Donaldson’s two-run homer in the first inning provided the only offence needed for the Blue Jays (57-61), who opened play four games back of a wild card spot.<\/p>\n

Tepesch (1-2) collected his first win in a Toronto uniform, allowing one run on four hits, three walks and two hit batsmen. Closer Roberto Osuna pitched 1 1\/3 scoreless innings to record a four-out save.<\/p>\n

Tepesch had allowed five earned runs on eight hits over 4 1\/3 innings against the New York Yankees in his first start for the Blue Jays last week. He was acquired from Minnesota in July for cash considerations.<\/p>\n

Jake Odorizzi (6-6) gave up two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out four over six innings and Wilson Ramos had a solo home run for the Rays (60-60).<\/p>\n

Odorizzi got off to a rough start, walking leadoff batter Jose Bautista before giving up a Donaldson home run to right field for a 2-0 Blue Jays lead. The homer was Donaldson’s 17th of the season and eighth in his last 16 games.<\/p>\n

Wilson got one run back for Tampa in the second inning, launching a 1-1 offering from Tepesch over the centre-field fence.<\/p>\n

Tepesch escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, after issuing a pair of one-out walks and hitting Daniel Robertson with two out, when Corey Dickerson hit a fly ball to the right-field warning track to end the inning.<\/p>\n

Tepesch retired the next six batters he faced, needing just 15 pitches to do so.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old right-hander started the seventh inning by hitting Peter Bourjos in the knee with a pitch, his second hit batter of the day, and walking Robertson to end his night. Aaron Loup came in and got a strange force out, with the umpire originally calling two Tampa players out at second base. The play was reviewed and overturned, leaving Tampa with just one out, and Loup got a strikeout and pop fly to end the inning.<\/p>\n

NOTES: Donaldson has hit seven of his last 10 homers in the first inning. … Attendance was 32,151. … Toronto called up left-handed reliever Tim Mayza before the game. … The Blue Jays continue their four-game series against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Marco Estrada (5-7, 4.85 earned-run average) will start for Toronto while the Rays counter with Blake Snell (0-6, 4.69 ERA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014 Josh Donaldson hit an early home run, Nick Tepesch pitched six-plus innings and the Toronto Blue Jays held on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":111929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,17],"tags":[20817,21197,12074],"class_list":["post-111922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","category-news-w","tag-josh-donaldson","tag-nick-tepesch","tag-toronto-blue-jays","mauthors-melissa-couto","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}