Major League Baseball
Toronto 15, Minnesota 8
When: 7:07 PM ET, Friday, August 26, 2016
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature: 84°
Umpires: Home - Manny Gonzalez, 1B - Chad Fairchild, 2B - James Hoye, 3B - Marvin Hudson
Attendance: 42534

TORONTO -- Justin Smoak and Russell Martin each had five RBIs, Francisco Liriano earned his first win for the Blue Jays and Toronto used four home runs to defeat the Minnesota Twins 15-8 on Friday night.

Smoak, Martin, Josh Donaldson and Darwin Barney homered for the Blue Jays. Donaldson added three RBIs.

The Blue Jays (72-56) took a one-game lead in the American League East with the Boston Red Sox loss to the Royals Friday.

Trevor Plouffe homered for the Twins (49-79), who lost their eighth game in a row and Kurt Suzuki had three RBIs.

Twins left-hander Pat Dean (1-4) allowed eight hits, one walk and six runs in three innings.

Liriano (7-12) allowed two hits, four walks and four runs (three earned) in five innings to go 1-1 in four starts for Toronto after a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The left-hander struck out seven.

Joe Biagini allowed a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Eddie Rosario to cut Toronto's advantage to 6-5.

Barney led off the four-run Toronto sixth with his fourth homer of the season.

Pat Light replaced Andrew Albers after shortstop Jorge Polanco's throwing error on Ezequiel Carrera's grounder

As Jose Bautista struck out, Carrera stole second and took third on a throwing error by the catcher, Suzuki.

Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion walked to load the bases and Martin hit a three-run double for a 10-5 Toronto lead.

The Blue Jays added five runs in the seventh against Michael Tonkin and Michael O'Rourke, who allowed Martin's 15th homer, a two-run shot.

Smoak and Donaldson had RBI singles in the inning.

The Twins scored twice in the eighth against Aaron Loup on a sacrifice fly by Suzuki and an RBI single by Rosario.

Loup allowed a sacrifice fly to Max Kepler in the ninth.

Plouffe hit his eighth homer of the season with two out in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.

The Blue Jays came back with five runs in the second inning, three on the 14th homer of the season by Smoak and two on the 30th home run of the season by Donaldson.

Troy Tulowitzki, Melvin Upton Jr. and Bautista hit singles in the inning.

The Twins cut the lead to 5-2 with an unearned run in the third on walks to Kurt Suzuki and Robbie Grossman, an error by Liriano on an infield trickler by Eddie Rosario and Plouffe's sacrifice fly.

Singles by Upton, Darwin Barney and Smoak restored Toronto's four-run lead in the bottom of the third.

Suzuki hit a two-run double in the fourth to reduce Toronto's lead to 6-4. It scored Kepler and Eduardo Escobar, who had walked.

NOTES: Toronto acquired C Dioner Navarro from the Chicago White Sox on Friday for minor-league LHP Colton Turner. ... Toronto CF Kevin Pillar was a late scratch from the lineup Friday after experiencing flu symptoms. Melvin Upton Jr. shifted from left field to center and OF Ezequiel Carrera took left field as OF Michael Saunders stayed on the bench for the second straight game with a sore hamstring. ...Blue Jays 2B Devon Travis (sore finger) was not in the lineup for the fourth straight game. ...Twins RHP Jose Berrios and RHP Tyler Duffey were optioned to Triple-A Rochester after the game Thursday and LHP Andrew Albers and RHP Alex Wimmers were promoted from the Triple-A team on Friday. ...Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana (6-10, 3.39 ERA) faces RHP Marcus Stroman (9-5, 4.47 ERA) on Saturday in the second game of the three-game series.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   Toronto
Pat Dean Player Francisco Liriano
Loss W/L Win
3.0 IP 5.0
1 Strikeouts 7
8 Hits 2
18.00 ERA 5.40
Hitting
Minnesota   Toronto
Eduardo Escobar Player Darwin Barney
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 1
0 HR 1
3 TB 7
.667 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 9 1 15 .281 16 9 8 5 0 2
Toronto 15 4 30 .375 13 6 15 5 1 1