Toronto, ON – Anthony Gose hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the tenth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied from an early three-run deficit to down the Minnesota Twins, 6-5, Monday in the first of a three-game set at Rogers Centre.
With Adeiny Hechavarria on second with two outs in the 10th, Gose hit a RBI single back up the middle to cap the comeback, bringing in the winning run off Minnesota reliever Brian Duensing (4-12).
"That's pretty special, to actually contribute in that way to help the team win," Gose said.
The Blue Jays, who trailed 4-1 after five innings, tied the game at 5-5 when Yan Gomes hit a 1-0 fastball off Glen Perkins with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Brandon Lyon (4-0) picked up the win for the Blue Jays by pitching a scoreless top of the 10th, although he had to work himself out of a bases- loaded jam.
Adam Lind went 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Jeff Mathis had a double and knocked in two runs for Toronto, which has now won two of its last three games.
Minnesota's Esmerling Vasquez, making his sixth career start, pitched well in the no-decision, giving the Twins 5 2/3 innings and surrendering three runs on six hits with one strikeout and three walks.
Aaron Laffey lasted five innings for Toronto, giving up four runs -- three earned -- on eight hits. He struck out none and walked none.
Trevor Plouffe had two hits -- including a two-run homer -- and three RBI for the Twins, while Jamey Carroll went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored in defeat.
The Blue Jays jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first. Rajai Davis began the inning by hitting a single, then alertly tagged up and advanced to second on Colby Rasmus' popup in foul territory that catcher Drew Butera had to lunge into the Blue Jays' dugout to snag.
After Davis moved to third on a Brett Lawrie fly ball to center field, Lind brought Davis home on a two-out single to right.
Minnesota came right back to take a 2-1 lead in the second, when Plouffe hit his blast over the center field wall to also bring home Chris Parmelee, who had been hit by a pitch to start the inning.
In the third, Carroll hit a stand-up double with one out off the left field wall and later came home to score on Plouffe's two-out double down the third- base line.
The Twins tacked on another run in the fifth, beginning with Carroll hitting an infield single to the hole at short and moving up to second on Hechavarria's throwing error. Carroll later scored when Joe Mauer hit a one- out single to left field, making it a 4-1 game.
Toronto, however, pulled back within one after Vasquez loaded the bases in the sixth, allowing a single and two walks to Blue Jays batters.
Although Vasquez got Hechavarria to hit a ground ball to Plouffe at third that led to a force out at the plate, Mathis stroked a two-out double to left in the next at-bat, bringing home Lind and Kelly Johnson to make it a 4-3 game.
"I think a failed double play hurt us," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We went home with it, but in my opinion we had to turn two there, and it ended up costing us to let them get into striking range."
But the Twins got their lead back to two in the seventh, when Ben Revere singled, moved to second on a steal and then came around to score on a Carroll single.
Toronto cut Minnesota's lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the frame, when Lind doubled off lefty reliever Tyler Robinson to score Lawrie, who had earlier reached on a two-out single off Alex Burnett, from first base.
Although Toronto stranded runners at first and third in the eighth, Gomes made up for it the next inning, taking Perkins deep over the wall in left with two outs to tie the game.
After Minnesota stranded the bases loaded in the 10th, Gose came to the plate with one out in the bottom of the frame for Toronto and drove in Hechavarria, who had reached on a single and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Game Notes
The Blue Jays are now 3-2 on the season against the Twins ... Plouffe now has 24 home runs on the season, making him the first Twins player to have 20 or more homers in his first or second major league season since Marty Cordova won the AL Rookie of the Year Award with 24 home runs in 1995 ... Minnesota's Revere now has a career-high 40 steals on the season, having swiped second base off Brett Cecil and Mathis in the seventh inning ... Mauer went 1-for-5 to drop his season average to .322, now seven points behind Detroit's Miguel Cabrera for the AL lead.
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