TORONTO — Max Kepler hit a two-run homer and Logan Morrison added a solo shot and drove in three as the Minnesota Twins downed the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Monday in the opener of a three-game series.
Eduardo Escobar drove in a pair for the Twins (45-53), and Joe Mauer was 3 for 5 with an RBI.
Adalberto Mejia (1-0) allowed one run and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings while striking out three and walking two.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was 2 for 4 with a homer for the Blue Jays (46-53), extending his multi-hit streak to six games. The last Toronto rookie to record two-plus hits in six consecutive games was John Olerud in 1990.
Yangervis Solarte hit a sacrifice fly and Kendrys Morales added an RBI single, both in the ninth inning.
Luis Santos (0-1) pitched two innings in his first major league start as the Blue Jays opted for a bullpen day in the absence of Marco Estrada (left glute strain). Toronto used six relievers over nine innings.
Santos, who had appeared in five games out of the bullpen this season with a 7.88 earned-run average, allowed three hits and a run, walked a batter and struck out three.
The Twins got to the 27-year-old right-hander early — and were helped by a couple of miscues from Teoscar Hernandez in left field — as Mauer led off the first with a double and scored on Escobar's triple for a 1-0 Minnesota lead.
Morrison tacked on two runs in the third with a single off Tim Mayza. His fifth-inning homer off Joe Biagini gave Minnesota a 6-1 lead before Kepler sent a pitch over the right-field wall to plate two more.
The Twins also scored twice in the fourth with base hits from Mauer and Escobar.
Gurriel, starting at shortstop and batting second in the lineup, put Toronto on the board with a solo shot in the third inning. The 24-year-old Cuban has at least one hit in each of his last 12 starts.
The Blue Jays loaded the bases with consecutive singles in the sixth but a pair of strikeouts and a fly out ended the threat.
Toronto was coming off three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, but remained fourth in the AL East. Minnesota entered Monday's action in second place in the AL Central, 9 1/2 games back of Cleveland.
The Blue Jays held a moment of silence before the game for victims of Sunday's deadly mass shooting in Toronto's Greektown neighbourhood.
NOTES: The game took three hours 18 minutes. ... Attendance was 25,405. ... The three-game series continues Tuesday night. Left-hander Ryan Borucki will start for Toronto. Righty Jose Berrios goes for the Twins.
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