Gamemaster » tightness) is dealing with back soreness and stiffness.

TORONTO — Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays will have a chance to see a 19-year-old phenom on Friday night.

It will not be the one they have been waiting for all season Chris Lindstrom Jersey , third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., however. It will be outfielder Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals, who will play a three-game interleague series at the Rogers Centre.

The Nationals (37-28) will start left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-2, 2.65 ERA) in the opener and the Blue Jays (30-38) will counter with right-hander Aaron Sanchez (3-5, 4.33). Both teams had Thursday off.

In 20 games since he was called up from Double-A Harrisburg, Soto is batting .344/.447/.641 with five homers and 12 RBIs. Soto hit two home runs and had four RBIs Wednesday night in a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

Guerrero, meanwhile, is on the disabled list with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee, although it is unlikely that he would be in the majors yet despite batting .407/.457/.667 with 11 homers and 55 RBIs at Double-A New Hampshire.

Soto (19 years, 231 days) became the youngest player to homer at Yankee Stadium since Andruw Jones (19 years, 180 days) of the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series. The last younger player to homer in the Bronx in a regular-season game was Ken Griffey Jr. on May 30, 1989 (19 years, 190 days). Griffey Jr. also hit two homers in that game.

Soto became the youngest player in the majors to hit two homers in a regular-season game since Jones on Aug. 22, 1996, against the Cincinnati Reds. He also is the youngest in the majors with a four-RBI game since Robin Yount (19 years, 227 days) of the Milwaukee Brewers on May 1, 1975, against the Detroit Tigers.

“For him to go out there and do what he did (Wednesday) http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jahlani-tavai-jersey , in front of this crowd, it tells you a little bit about the character that he brings,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “He understands the game. He understands his at-bats. He’ll swing at a bad pitch, and then he’ll lay off the next one. And he’s been doing that all year. He’s not afraid to take his walks. He’ll take his walks when he needs to. And he’s learning every day.”

Soto’s home runs helped offset some poor play by Washington.

“Let me be honest with you. It was ugly. It was,” Martinez said. “I’m not going to lie. We gave them five outs. Typically, when you do that, you don’t expect to win the ballgame.”

The Nationals split two games at Yankee Stadium and are 5-5 in their past 10 games. They are 22-12 on the road.

The Blue Jays, who are 5-5 in their past 10 games, were swept in a three-game series by the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, including a 1-0 game in the finale on Wednesday afternoon.

Before visiting the Rays, the Blue Jays swept four games from the struggling Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre. Despite the sweep of the Orioles, the Blue Jays are 16-19 at home. Overall, they are 13-26 since May 2.

Gonzalez is coming off his shortest start of the season, 3 1/3 innings on Saturday. He allowed four runs, six hits and four walks in a game Washington won 7-5 over the San Francisco Giants.

He is 2-2 in five career starts against the Blue Jays.

Sanchez has reached 100 pitches in his start twice this season, which happened to be his two most recent outings when he had a win and a no-decision.

He is 1-3 with a 4.63 ERA in his past seven starts. The 25-year-old has never faced the Nationals.

The Blue Jays could have third baseman Josh Donaldson back on the lineup Friday. He has been on the disabled list with a calf injury. He also could play a rehabilitation game with Triple-A Buffalo before rejoining the Blue Jays.

Second baseman Devon Travis should return to the lineup Friday after being left out of the starting lineup Wednesday to rest a right knee that required surgery last year. He entered the game as a pinch runner in the eighth inning and finished the game at second base.

Travis has been one of the Blue Jays’ better hitters since rejoining the team from Triple-A Buffalo on May 22. In his past 15 games, he has gone 14-for-48 (.292) with three extra-base hits.

“When he starts hitting the ball pretty crisp the other way, he’s where he should be Kyler Murray Jersey ,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “I don’t know if that had anything to do with the knee early on, and whether he could load up on it or not.”

Eric Thames has a penchant for game-changing home runs this season.

Thames hit a two-run homer that accounted for the game’s only runs as the Milwaukee Brewers slipped past the Minnesota Twins 2-0 on Tuesday. Thames has three home runs in the past six games.

”I’d say that’s a hot streak,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

Eight of Thames’ 12 homers have put the Brewers on the board and seven have given his team a lead.

Milwaukee broke through in the fifth against Minnesota starter Jake Odorizzi (3-6) when pinch-hitter Nate Orf walked and stole second before Thames lined a homer that just cleared the right-field fence.

”It was a cutter that didn’t get in far enough,” Odorizzi said. ”I just didn’t execute it, plain and simple. I just didn’t get enough break on it. Right pitch, just bad execution and it turns out to be the deciding factor.”

Thames reached base three times in four at-bats. After the game, he credited Milwaukee’s pitching, which held Minnesota to two hits.

”Our bullpen has been the hammer for us,” Thames said. ”They have been the ones to pick us up, but we need to start scoring more, getting guys on base and driving them in and give them breathing room.”

It wasn’t just the bullpen on this day.

Milwaukee starter Junior Guerra (5-5) pitched five shutout innings. He gave up two hits while walking three and striking out eight and pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first after giving up a double and two walks.

”Being able to put up a zero up there and not let them score was very big,” Guerra said through team translator Carlos Brizuela. ”Walks are very lethal, especially for a starter.”

Josh Hader pitched a season-high three innings in relief for the Brewers and didn’t allow a hit. Closer Corey Knebel notched his ninth save in 11 attempts by striking out the side in the ninth.

Both starting pitchers held their opponents in check but struggled with high pitch counts. Guerra threw 89 pitches. Odorizzi gave up two runs and four hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out nine but threw 109 pitches.

The Twins fell to 1-7 on their current nine-game road trip.

INFIELD INACTIVITY

The Twins became the first team whose first baseman, Joe Mauer, played an entire game and had no putouts or assists since Edwin Encarnacion did it with Toronto against Baltimore on Aug. 25, 2012. This has happened just six other times in the past 20 years and never to the Twins.

”There wasn’t a ground ball today, which is a baseball oddity,” Molitor said. ”I can’t really explain it other than Odorizzi http://www.arizonacardinalsteamonline.com/byron-murphy-jersey , we know, is a fly ball guy.”

CHOKED UP

In the ninth, home plate umpire Marty Foster called Jake Cave out on strikes but didn’t raise his arm right away with the signal, prompting an argument from Molitor.

”It looked like, as simply as I can state it, that he wasn’t going to make the call,” Molitor said. ”Jake made the mistake of walking away, and it looked like (Foster) put his arm up after the fact. He said that he had called it right away but that he was choking on his Nicorette mints.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: Recalled LHP Gabriel Moya from Triple-A Rochester and optioned RHP Zack Littell to Rochester. Littell was the losing pitcher in Monday’s 10-inning game. …2B Brian Dozier didn’t start so he could rest but entered the game in the seventh. ”It’s always tough to sit (Dozier),” Molitor said. ”I think if he had his druthers, he would play 162 games and start them all.”

Brewers: OF Christian Yelich didn’t start for the fifth consecutive game due to lower back tightness but entered in the ninth as a defensive replacement. ..OF Lorenzo Cain (left groin strain) is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday, but Brewers manager Craig Counsell said he likely won’t be in the lineup right away. ”There’s enough caution there that we’ve got to get over the last hurdle,” Counsell said. ”We’re not to 100 percent yet.” … RHP Zach Davies (right shoulder tightness) is dealing with back soreness and stiffness. ”He won’t throw until that’s gone,” Counsell said. ”That’s going to set him back.”

UP NEXT

Twins: Jose Berrios (8-6, 3.52 ERA) gets the start in the three-game series finale. Berrios will face the Brewers for the first time in his career.

Brewers: Chase Anderson (6-6, 4.18) has held opponents to a .208 batting average this season.

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