Healy homers, his 1st major league hit, as A’s beat Jays

“I think you have to believe that you belong,” he said. “No matter where you are in life, you have to believe that you belong and just run with that.”

Khris Davis homered twice for Oakland and Sonny Gray snapped a 12-game winless streak. It was Davis’ ninth career multi-homer game, three of which came this season. The A’s have homered six times in two games, three of them by Davis.

They are 12-10 since a dreadful stretch from May 1 to June 19 in which they lost 29 of 44.

The Blue Jays, who’d won eight of nine games going into the All-Star break, lost to Oakland for a second straight day to start the second half.

Grey (4-8) ended a career-worst seven game skid. He was 0-7 with a 6.16 ERA over his previous 12 starts. He allowed three runs on six hits and four walks in six innings.

“It’s been a really weird road in between wins,” Gray said. “It’s been a long time and there’ve been a lot of things that have happened. You just try and go out there and compete, I don’t think it’s any secret things haven’t gone as you would hope the majority of the year.”

Healy crushed a 66 mph pitch off knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (7-10) for his three-run shot to left that highlighted a four-run rally in the bottom of the second inning.

“That’s the first slow knuckleball I’ve thrown in four years that got hit out for a home run,” Dickey said. “I thought it would be a safe pitch. I was trying to find the speed it was moving most and today it was the harder. I felt good all day.”

Dickey hadn’t allowed a three-run homer this season.

Healy said he’d never faced a knuckleballer at any level.

“I kind of peeked up and I was hoping it was going to stay fair because I saw it starting to fade a little bit,” he said. “Once it went out a big rush of adrenaline went through me.”

Dickey, who’d won five of his previous eight starts, allowed five runs on five hits, including three homers, and three walks in six innings.

Josh Thole was 2 for 3 with a two-run double for the Blue Jays and Edwin Encarnacion hit his 24th homer leading off the top of the third off Gray.

Justin Smoak hit a solo homer, his 10th, off A’s closer Ryan Madson, who pitched the ninth for his 19th save.

CHALLENGING TIMES

A day after a replay ruling on a play at the plate figured prominently in an A’s 8-7 win, home plate was the centre of two more challenges — on the same play. After Blue Jays manager John Gibbons’ challenge overturned an A’s scoring play in the bottom of the seventh inning, A’s manager Bob Melvin challenged the reversal, contending that catcher Thole blocked Marcus Semien’s path to the plate. Replay officials rejected Melvin’s argument. On Friday, Josh Reddick scored the tiebreaking run on a play at the plate that was overturned on a challenge.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Athletics: C Josh Phegley, on the disabled list since July 2 with a strained right knee, could resume baseball activities within a week. … LHP Sean Doolittle, out since June 26 with a left shoulder strain, could start throwing within a week. … No timetable has been established for RHP’s Henderson Alvarez (right shoulder surgery) and Fernando Rodriguez (right shoulder strain), out since March 25 and July 4.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: LHP J.A. Happ is 6-0 with a 2.73 ERA over his last six starts. The Blue Jays are averaging 10.1 runs over that stretch. Happ (12-3, 3.36 ERA) has already tied his career high for wins in a season.

Athletics: In his last seven starts, LHP Rich Hill is 6-0 with a 2.05 ERA with no home runs allowed. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts since coming off the disabled list (left groin strain) on July 1. He is 1-1 with a 4.76 ERA in 10 career appearances against Toronto.

Gideon Rubin, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Healy homers, his 1st major league hit, as A’s beat Jays

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