Jose Bautista, Blue Jays' offence overpower Twins

It was just another at bat for Jose Bautista even though the bases were loaded.

He hit a go-ahead grand slam and Toronto held on for a 9-7 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday as the Blue Jays won their fourth straight to tighten their grip on the second wild card spot in the American League.

With Toronto trailing 3-2 in the second inning and the bases full, Bautista's thought process was simple.

"Just get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard. Same thing that I think about every other at bat," said Bautista. "The situation for me doesn't change in that moment.

"If anything, I feel a little bit more confident because I know the pitcher can't walk me, he can't really pitch around me. He has nowhere to go but pitch in the zone."

Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion also hit home runs for Toronto (57-52), which now trails the AL East-leading New York Yankees by 4.5 games for the division lead. New York lost to Boston 2-1 on Wednesday.

The Blue Jays have homered in 17 of 18 games since the all-star break and have hit multiple home runs in 10 of those games.

""We went out there and we did what we do best," said Bautista. "We scored some runs and it was enough to get the W, so it was a good win today."

Drew Hutchison (10-2) struck out five over five innings of work but gave up seven runs three of them earned on seven hits. Liam Hendriks, Brett Cecil and Mark Lowe pitched a scoreless inning of relief each before LaTroy Hawkins came in to earn his first save with Toronto.

Hawkins is the 13th pitcher in Major League Baseball history to earn a save against all 30 teams.

"I had never thought about it until yesterday," said Hawkins. "Lowe said something to me about it, making a joke in the bullpen. I'm like, 'Really? Well, I probably won't have a chance to get that.'

"And then when (pitching coach Pete Walker) told me I had a chance, that I was closing tonight, I'm like, 'Oh, OK, cool.' And the game started to unfold, opportunity presented itself."

Designated hitter Miguel Sano had two hits and three runs batted in for Minnesota (54-53), which has dropped three games in a row. Tyler Duffey (0-1) struggled in his majors debut, giving up six runs on five hits in just two innings of work. Five relievers came in for the Twins after Duffey was pulled.

Minnesota took a 3-0 lead in the first as Sano drove in leadoff man Aaron Hicks with a double that advanced Joe Mauer to third. Trevor Plouffe then cleared the bases with a double of his own.

Donaldson brought Toronto to within a run with a home run to deep left field, driving in Troy Tulowitzki. It was Donaldson's sixth homer in 10 games and 29th of the season, tying a career high.

Bautista gave the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead in the second with the fifth grand slam of his career. The bases had been loaded after Ryan Goins and Kevin Pillar had singles and Donaldson walked.

"I wasn't necessarily sitting on it, but we watch, we observe," said Bautista. "You'll also get a feel for the speed of pitches when you're up at the plate. I felt pretty good when that pitch came out of the hand and I felt nice and loose and fluid and I just took a nice hack."