Jesse Litsch pitches 4-hitter as Blue Jays rout Twins 9-0 to complete 3-game sweep
By Associated Press
10:07 PM EDT, September 4, 2008
TORONTO (AP) _ Jesse Litsch threw a four-hit shutout and the Toronto Blue Jays complete a three-game sweep of Minnesota with a 9-0 victory over the Twins on Thursday night.
The Blue Jays were +100 on the moneyline last night at vip.com.
Litsch (10-8) walked two and struck out three and is 2-1 with a 0.94 ERA in four starts since being recalled from Triple-A on Aug. 14.
Travis Snider hit his first career home run and went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to help Toronto beat Minnesota for the ninth straight meeting. He also walked and scored twice while Joe Inglett and Alex Rios each drove in a pair as Toronto broke it open with a five-run eighth inning.
Vernon Wells also homered for Toronto, which has won five straight.
Minnesota wrapped up a season-long 14-game road trip at 5-9 and fell 1½ games behind the idle Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. The Twins have lost nine of 12.
Snider, 20, had his first career multi-hit game in Wednesday's 11-inning win, going 3-for-5 with three singles. He needed only three at-bats to match that total Thursday, singling in the second, homering to begin the fifth and driving in a run with an RBI single in the sixth. He walked and scored in the eighth.
Toronto's first-round draft pick in 2006, Snider began the season with Class-A Dunedin, spending just 17 games there before being promoted to Double-A. He reached Triple-A in early August and was called up to Toronto on Aug. 28 when Matt Stairs was traded to Philadelphia.
Twins right-hander Kevin Slowey (11-9) allowed three runs in 5 2-3 innings to lose for the first time in six starts. He walked none and struck out three.
Toronto opened the scoring in the first when Inglett was hit by a pitch, went to third on singles by Marco Scutaro and Rios and scored on Wells' sacrifice fly.
The Twins put runners at first and third with two outs in the third, but Litsch got Justin Morneau on a comebacker to the mound.
Wells hit a two-out, solo homer in the seventh, his 16th.
Fans chanted "Replay" when a Rod Barajas drive hooked in front of the left field foul screen in the sixth. Barajas flied out to deep right on the next pitch.