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Three man blasting crew of Martin, Edwin and Tulo power Blue Jays to 5-2 win

There's no I in TEAM, but there is Tulo, Edwin, And Martin hitting homers.

By Matt W
Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

Diamondbacks 2 Blue Jays 5

In a reversal of last night, the Blue Jays were outhit 8-5 by Arizona, but came away with the win thanks for three long balls that accounted for all five runs.

The Jays didn't waste much time getting on the scoreboard. With one out in the bottom of the 1st inning, Josh Donaldson doubled and Edwin Encarnacion walked behind him. Michael Saunders struck out, but Russell martin picked everyone up with a three run home run to left centre field, staking the Jays to a lead they would not relinquish and giving them all the runs they would ultimately need.

Meanwhile, J.A. Happ was very good the first time through the order, but then spent most of the rest of his outing walking a tightrope. He kept Arizona off the board for the first two innings, with the only blemish a two out walk in the 1st, and retired the first two batters of the 3rd in order.

But then the lineup turned over and Happ walked Jean Segura on 5 pitches. He got Phil Gosselin in a 1-2 hole, but gave up a line drive to right field that was misplayed by Darrell Ceciliani, allowing Segura to score and Gosselin to advance to third. The error proved moot as Happ walked Paul Goldschmidt (the old intentional unintentional walk) on four pitches and then Rickie Weeks on five pitches to load up the bases and put the lead in danger. But he rebounded to strike out Welington Castillo and contain the damage.

The 4th was more of the same, as a one out double from Yasmani Tomas came around on a two out single by Michael Bourn. Segura managed a bunt single, but Happ got out of it with just the run. The 5th started with a pair of singles by Goldschmidt and Weeks, but Happ struck out the next three to hold the lead at 3-2. It did run his pitch count up to 100, so his day was done with 6 hits allowed, 4 walks but 8 strikeouts over 5 innings.

Gavin Floyd came out for the 6th and worked a clean inning with a strikeout. In the bottom of the inning, the bats woke up from the slumber that saw them have just one hit, one walk and one hit by pitch from the 2nd through 5th innings. On "Edwing shirt" giveaway day, Edwin took the parrot out for a ride with an absolute blast leading off the inning:

Once it was done circling the bases, it apparently came to rest in on Ezequiel Carrera in the dugout, much to the bemusement of Michael Saunders:

But they were were not quite done, as Troy Tulowitzki got in on the act, hammering an elevated fastball over the fence to left centre field for his 10th home run of the year to push the lead to 5-2. That was basically the extent of the offensive output for the afternoon, though Justin Smoak had a scary moment, going down hard after fouling a ball off his knee but he stayed in the game.

A trio of relievers finished the game, as John Gibbons did sent send Floyd back out for a second inning. Drew Storen struck out a pair in the 7th after a one out double, though the first was on a dangerous slider at the top of the zone that was nonetheless swung through. Jason Grilli erased a leadoff single in the 8th on a double play, and struck out the last batter. Roberto Osuna got his first save since June 3rd with a clean 9th, thanks to a couple of outstanding plays by Devon Travis on bouncers up the middle (the latter of which required a review to overturn an initial safe call) and Martin reacting quickly to a popped out bump.


Source: FanGraphs

Jays of the Day: Martin (+0.207 WPA, 1/3, HR), Encarnacion (+0.092, 1/3, HR, 2BB). Happ (+0.082) and Floyd (+0.080) come close but no cigar.

Suckage: None, yet again in a recap I'm writing. Devon Travis had the low number at -0.067 with on 0/4, 2K afternoon, but chipped in with the glove.

Tomorrow, the Blue Jays are off as they travel to Chicago for a weekend series with the White Sox, kicking off a stretch of 17 straight games going into the All-Star break. Aaron Sanchez is set to take on Carlos Rodon Friday at 8:00 eastern.

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