Toronto 6 Twins 5
TORONTO — Vernon Wells is feeling better, and so are the Toronto Blue Jays.
Wells, who did not start the previous two games because of a virus, ended an 0-for-21 slump Wednesday with the go-ahead double in a the seventh inning and the Blue Jays ended a three-game losing streak with a 6-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
The winning hit against reliever Matt Guerrier (1-5) scored Jose Bautista, who walked after the Blue Jays (42-43) had tied the game when Alex Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly after Fred Lewis tripled.
Besides contributing to the comeback inning, Gonzalez and Bautista both homered before a crowd of 14,886 at Rogers Centre. Bautista’s was a two-run inside-the-park homer in the fifth against starter Kevin Slowey, his 22nd of the season. Left-fielder Delmon Young and centre-fielder Denard Span clipped each other and went down as the ball went into the gap.
“I was just thinking that there was a chance and that I had to keep going,” Bautista said. “At that time my legs were getting a little heavy.”
Bautista entered the game tied for the American League lead in homers. Gonzalez hit his 16th of the season in the first.
Scott Downs (3-5) got the win and Kevin Gregg earned his 19th save.
Wells says he has trouble picking up the ball from Guerrier but he got a fastball to hit after fouling off an inviting 0-2 curveball.
“I think I’ve had a couple of hits off (Guerrier) but he’s tough to pick up,” Wells said.
“The 0-1 pitch I swung at and it might have hit the plate. You kind of just try to gather yourself and try to make him get the ball up. Luckily I got a fastball up in the zone and I was able to put the good part of the bat on it.
“I got a curveball the pitch before and felt that I missed it. With him I kind of have issues trying to pick the ball up so I just kind of threw my bat at it and hit it just far enough.”