As much as the Minnesota Twins love to play small ball, they discovered Wednesday that 11 singles simply doesn't get it done.
Gregg Zaun cranked a two-run home run and five pitchers held the Twins without an extra-base hit as the Toronto Blue Jays won 5-4 before a crowd of 30,959 at the Metrodome.
Gregg Zaun high-fives Frank Thomas after homering in a 5-4 Blue Jays win.
(Tom Olmscheid/Associated Press)
Both teams entered Wednesday's contest having won five of their last seven games.
Howie Clark went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run batted in and a run scored for the Blue Jays (39-38).
Vernon Wells and Alex Rios had the other RBIs.
Frank Thomas remained stuck on 499 career home runs, stroking a single and walking twice.
Thomas is bidding to become the 21st major leaguer to reach the 500-homer plateau.
His first homer came at the Metrodome, off Twins reliever Gary Wayne on Aug. 28, 1990.
Torii Hunter drove in two runs and Nick Punto had the other RBI for the Twins (39-37), who totalled 11 hits — all singles.
"We had opportunities and just did not get them in," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You have a chance to put a [pitcher] away with a big hit or two."
Toronto starter Josh Towers (3-5) lasted into the seventh inning in just his seventh start and 13th appearance of the season.
He permitted four runs — one unearned — on nine hits with two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings pitched.
"I was getting frustrated because they had a lot of base hits and were running a lot on us," Towers said. "I tried to make an adjustment with my arm slot and I thought the slider got better, so my confidence grew a little bit."
Closer Jeremy Accardo preserved the win for Towers, retiring the final four batters for his 10th save in 12 opportunities.
Towers hadn't won a start since April 15, when he defeated the Detroit Tigers 2-1, although he earned a second win in relief.
Minnesota starter Boof Bonser (5-4) suffered the loss, giving up five runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts in six innings.
"He looked like he quit attacking," Gardenhire said. "You walk people, you get hurt.
"He could not locate the fastball. When you start missing with your fastball, then all you can throw is the other stuff [and] you are going to get behind in the count."
Punto puts Twins ahead
Jason Kubel led off the bottom of the second inning with a single, advanced into scoring position on Lew Ford's groundout and scored on Punto's RBI single.
Punto scooted to third base when Towers overthrew first baseman Matt Stairs on a pickoff attempt, and scored on a passed ball by Zaun.
"We have got to put pressure because we don't hit a lot of home runs," Punto said. "We have speed and we have to utilize that speed to our advantage."
The Twins scored a third run in the third inning on singles from Jason Bartlett, Michael Cuddyer and Hunter, who was credited with the RBI.
The Blue Jays closed the gap with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, beginning with back-to-back doubles by rookie Adam Lind and Clark.
Clark moved to third on Royce Clayton's groundout and scored on a fielder's choice from Wells to make it 3-2.
Toronto took the lead in the sixth inning when Thomas walked and Zaun belted a two-run homer to right field, his third of the season.
"I was able to keep my front side on the ball a little bit longer and get my back side working through it," Zaun said. "I was able to get the barrel where I wanted it to be in the right position, instead of being out front and around it."
The Blue Jays went ahead 5-3 in the seventh inning as Clayton lined a leadoff double and was singled to third by Wells before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Rios.
The Twins trimmed the deficit with a run in the bottom of the frame, courtesy a sacrifice fly from Hunter, but reliever Brian Wolfe snuffed the rally with two clutch outs, including striking out Kubel swinging.
When they threatened to tie it off Brian Tallet in the eighth inning, Accardo took the mound and struck out Barlett swinging.
"Wolfe was a key guy," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He comes in with the bases loaded and gets Hunter to fly out and then he got a big strikeout on Kubel."
With files from Sports Network
