Oakland, CA – Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer, Yunel Escobar drove in a pair, and the Toronto Blue Jays edged the Oakland Athletics, 6-5, in the finale of a four-game series on Sunday.
Anthony Gose and Kelly Johnson each had two hits and drove in a run for the Blue Jays, who have won two straight after dropping six in a row. Rajai Davis had two hits and scored twice.
Aaron Laffey (3-2) earned the win after giving up four runs on six hits with four strikeouts over six innings.
Casey Janssen worked around a one-out walk to earn his 14th save of the season.
Josh Reddick hit a three-run homer and Coco Crisp and Derek Norris each drove in a run for the A's, losers in four of their last six games.
Tommy Milone (9-9) was saddled with the loss after allowing all six runs on nine hits over six frames. He struck out four and issued one walk -- an intentional free pass in the fifth. Milone has walked one or fewer batters in each of his last nine starts.
"I couldn't get that one big pitch that I needed," said Milone. "I was leaving balls up over the plate and they were capitalizing on them. Just try to forget about it and move on to the next one."
With a runner on first and one out in the ninth, Jemile Weeks ripped a line drive down the third base line but Yan Gomes snared the ball and fired to first, doubling off pinch-runner Eric Sogard to complete the game-ending double play.
Toronto wasted no time and took a 1-0 lead in the first. Davis doubled to left and then scored on a Gose sacrifice bunt. Davis broke for third before Gose put the bunt down and never stopped. As Norris threw to first for the force out, Davis rounded third and scored.
Oakland knotted it up in the third. Brandon Inge singled before scoring on Norris' double to left-center.
The A's tacked on three more in the third to go up 4-1. Weeks walked and Jonny Gomes singled before Josh Reddick clobbered a homer to right.
But the Blue Jays added two in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead.
In the fourth, Gose singled before Encarnacion lifted a homer to left-center. The homer cleared the fence by a few feet, but it was inches from being caught by Coco Crisp, who scaled the fence in an attempt to rob Encarnacion of his 29th homer.
"We had been struggling the last couple of games," Encarnacion said. "I hit that homer and we started getting some emotion and swinging the bats better."
With two outs in the fifth, Davis singled to left and Gose doubled to put runners on second and third. Encarnacion was intentionally walked and Yunel Escobar made the A's pay with a single to plate Davis and Gose. Johnson followed with a single to score Encarnacion, who moved to third on Escobar's base hit.
Oakland added one in the seventh on Crisp's RBI double.
Game Notes
Encarnacion and Moises Sierra also had two hits for Toronto...The Blue Jays improve to 93-98 at Oakland...The A's are 18-35 when opponents score first and 20-16 in series finales...Milone hasn't won a start since July 14.
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