Max Kepler tried to save the Twins' lead. Instead, he extended the Twins' misery.
Kepler's over-exuberant dive, an effort to catch Melvin Upton's sinking line drive in the eighth inning, allowed the ball to bounce past him toward the right-field wall. And when the rookie outfielder caught up to the baseball and slid to avoid Eddie Rosario coming from center field, the ball kicked off his shoe, allowing Upton to circle the bases and put the Blue Jays in front for the first time all day. Toronto held on for the 8-7 victory at Rogers Centre, handing the Twins their ninth consecutive loss.
At 49-80, Minnesota dropped 31 games below .500 for the first time since the end of the 2011 season.
The Twins appeared headed toward their first victory since Aug. 17 for much of the day, taking a 5-1 lead behind Ervin Santana. But the staff ace faltered as his pitch count mounted, first by allowing Edwin Encarnacion's 36th home run, a two run shot that closed the gap to 5-3, and then, after the Twins extended the lead to 7-3 on a Trevor Plouffe home run, by leaving the bases loaded in the seventh inning for reliever Ryan Pressly. Singles by Josh Donaldson and Encarnacion brought home three runs and set up Kepler's critical mistake in the eighth inning.
Santana allowed six runs on only five hits, but he also walked five batters.
The Twins built their early lead off Jays' right-hander Marcus Stroman, who kept forcing the Twins to hit ground balls _ 13 of Minnesota's first 17 batters did so _ but watched as eight of them shot through the infield for hits. Eduardo Escobar grounded a double down the right field line for an RBI, and Brian Dozier slapped one down the left-field line for two more.
