Blue Jays 9, Twins 3
Jose Bautista had three hits - including an RBI single that keyed Toronto's five-run sixth inning - and Brett Lawrie added his second career grand slam en route to a series-opening rout of host Minnesota.
Edwin Encarnacion added a pair of hits, two runs scored and an RBI while Munenori Kawasaki and Ryan Goins also finished with two hits apiece as the Blue Jays beat the Twins for the 16th time in the past 20 meetings. Aaron Loup (1-0) earned the win in relief of starter Brandon Morrow, who surrendered two runs on four hits while walking four over 3 2/3 laborious innings.
Phil Hughes (0-1) cruised through the first five innings but unraveled in the sixth and was charged with four runs on eight hits while fanning seven over five frames. Trevor Plouffe hit a solo homer while Chris Colabello had three hits and drove in his team-high 15th run for the Twins, who had their three-game winning streak halted.
The Twins jumped on Morrow early as Brian Dozier drew a leadoff walk and scored three batters later on Colabello's double that nearly cleared the fence in right-center field. Minnesota doubled its lead in the second as Pedro Florimon hit a two-out triple to the center-field gap and came home on Joe Mauer's line-drive single over shortstop Kawasaki's head.
Toronto drew even on RBI singles by Bautista and Encarnacion, pulled ahead for good on Moises Sierra's run-scoring groundout and padded the lead as Lawrie's sacrifice fly brought home Encarnacion. Lawrie put the game out of reach in the ninth, drilling Jared Burton's offering into the left-field seats after Burton had walked the bases loaded with two outs.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Blue Jays LF Melky Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single to center in the first inning. Toronto DH Adam Lind was removed from the game in the seventh inning with lower back tightness. ... Morrow needed 98 pitches to record 11 outs while seeing his ERA rise to 5.52.