Thomas hits 3 homers in Blue Jays win

Last Updated: Monday, September 17, 2007 | 11:36 PM ET

CBC Sports

Frank Thomas was a one-man wrecking crew for the Toronto Blue Jays, homering three times in a 6-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

Thomas hit a pair of home runs off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield before completing the carnage with a two-run shot off reliever Kyle Snyder in front of 29,316 fans at the Rogers Centre.

Frank Thomas hits the first of three homers in Monday's 6-1 Jays win.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

"That felt great," said Thomas, who finished 3-for-5 with five runs batted in and three runs scored.

"It was one of those days everything clicked. I'm just happy, really happy."

Thomas enjoyed a three-homer game once before — against Wakefield and the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sept. 15, 1996.

"I remember it like it was yesterday," Wakefield said. "If you make mistakes to him, they leave the yard pretty quick."

"That was a long time ago," Thomas said. "Mo Vaughn is a very good friend of mine and he hit two that day, and we were really going at each other, talking about who could do it.
 
"It's one of those things you cherish. I don't take anything for granted anymore."

Thomas has four multi-homer games this season and 512 career homers, moving him past Mel Ott into 18th place with Ernie Banks and Eddie Matthews.

"To be in their company means a lot," Thomas said. "They were tremendous ballplayers in their time."

Vernon Wells had the other run batted in for the Blue Jays (75-75).

Almost lost amid the long balls was Toronto starter Dustin McGowan's masterful performance on the mound.

McGowan (11-9) scattered five hits and struck out nine batters without issuing a walk in pitching his second complete game of the season.

"You knew, early on, that he had it," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "When he gets that slider going, it makes it awful tough on those hitters."

"Dustin was tremendous," Thomas said. "When he is prepared mentally, he is as good as any starter in baseball.

"I know that's a bold statement, but it's true. His stuff can totally dominate a team, and when he is on, he is on. I don't care how good the hitters are."

Mike Lowell drove in the lone run for the Red Sox (90-61), who lead the American League East Division by 3½ games over the New York Yankees.

Toronto trails by 14½ games.

Wakefield suffers loss

Wakefield (16-11) lasted six innings, yielding four runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

"I felt like I had good stuff," he said. "I would like to have just two pitches back — and both of them were to Frank."

"I have had my good days against him," Thomas said. "But over the whole haul, he has had the best of me.

"Today, a couple flattened out. That happens with knuckleball pitchers sometimes."

Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Wells walked and Thomas cranked a two-run homer off Wakefield to left field.

Boston cut the deficit in half when rookie Jacoby Ellsbury singled to open the fourth inning and later scored on Lowell's RBI double to left.

The Blue Jays restored their two-run lead in the fifth inning, with Russ Adams drawing a walk and hustling to third base on a single by John McDonald before scoring on an RBI groundout from Wells.

Thomas whacked a Wakefield offering off the foul pole in left for a solo homer in the sixth inning, and completed the scoring with his two-run jolt to left off Snyder in the eighth.

Thomas has 25 homers this season.

With files from the Canadian Press