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TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays want to put a couple of series losses behind them as they head out for a 10-game road trip that should give them a good idea of whether theyre actually ready to be a contender in the American League East. Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series. Twins starter Phil Hughes (7-2) struck out nine and allowed seven hits over seven shutout innings. With the loss, Torontos lead atop the division standings fell to five games over Baltimore and New York. The Orioles were home to Boston on Wednesday night while the Yankees were in Seattle. The Blue Jays will play Baltimore and New York next week before closing out their trip against the Cincinnati Reds. "Well see how good we are," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "Were playing a couple good teams in our division. Weve got a small little lead on them but theyre right there. So we need to play good baseball on this road trip, especially the way the last four or five games have gone. "For our psyche more than anything else we need to regroup and put a couple good ball games together." Toronto (39-28) has been giving up early leads of late, with the opposition scoring first for the seventh straight time Wednesday. Danny Santana opened the game with a single off Marcus Stroman (3-1), who was making his third career start. The leadoff man scored when Willingham turned on a 1-2 pitch and put it into the second deck. "It was just a bad pitch," Stroman said. "It was probably the worst pitch of the outing. It was just one of those that was supposed to be buried but it just kind of hung up there. I tried to do too much with it." The Blue Jays starter allowed three earned runs and nine hits while striking out four. Triple-A callup Bobby Korecky replaced him in the seventh and loaded the bases before Morales cleared them with a three-run double. Toronto avoided the embarrassment of a fourth shutout loss in five games by scratching out a pair of runs in the eighth. Casey Fien got the last four outs for his first save of the season. "Theres no doubt weve cooled off with the bats," Gibbons said. "But that can turn in one day, that can turn overnight. But I do think its going to be good to get out on the road. "Weve been at home a long time. A little change of pace, a little change of scenery might do us some good." The Blue Jays led several offensive categories last month and, despite the recent cold stretch, have won 16 of their last 22 games and 21 of 29. "The bats are going to come around," Stroman said. "All the guys in the clubhouse are pretty positive about it. I have 100 per cent confidence in every single guy in that lineup that the guys are going to start doing what they were doing at the beginning of the year. Its close." The Twins, meanwhile, moved two games under the .500 mark with the win. Minnesota (31-33) outhit Toronto 16-10 while Hughes picked up his ninth quality start of the season. "Super job by him of changing speeds, moving the ball in and out," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "He used his breaking ball a lot better today." Hughes did well to get out of a jam in the sixth inning after Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an infield single. Reyes moved to third base on a Melky Cabrera single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Oswaldo Arcia made a nice sliding catch in foul territory on a Jose Bautista flyout and Hughes struck out Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind to escape. "I felt like I kind of found myself in the third or fourth inning and was able to ride that through," Hughes said. The Blue Jays fell to 20-17 at home this season. They have been much stronger away from Rogers Centre this year and at 19-11, have the fewest road losses in the major leagues. "The bats will heat up again," Gibbons said. "Hopefully sooner than later." Notes: Announced attendance was 45,080. There were several groups of schoolchildren in the crowd. ... Koreckys callup from the Buffalo Bisons was announced Wednesday morning and he was sent back down after the game. The Blue Jays also optioned outfielder Kevin Pillar to the Bisons and recalled outfielder Darin Mastroianni. ... Dozier left the game in the fourth inning due to tightness in his lower back. He was replaced at second base by Eduardo Escobar and is listed as day to day. ... Toronto will kick off a four-game series at Baltimore on Thursday night. Left-hander Mark Buehrle (10-2, 2.04 ERA) is scheduled to start against right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-1, 4.91). ... The Blue Jays will get an off-day Monday before playing three games against the Yankees and three against the Reds. ... Reyes turned 31 on Wednesday. ... The game took two hours 57 minutes to play. Pittsburgh Penguins Store .The Dallas Cowboys released Sam from the practice squad Tuesday, dropping the rush end as they prepare for several potential reinforcements to return to the defensive line. Penguins Jerseys China .FIFA said its appeals panel ruled the case not admissible.The former U.S. Attorney had objected to ethics judge Joachim Eckerts summary of the World Cup bid investigation, claiming numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of his work. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ .ca/CurlingSkins - with the Top 16 curlers earning a ticket to Banff, Alta. to compete in the TRAVELERS ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Presented by Pintys, running Jan. 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Lynn threw eight innings of two-hit ball and Adams homered on his first swing since coming off the disabled list. Zimmermann (5-3) threw a two-hit shutout at San Diego his last start and worked 19 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings before Adams hit his fourth homer on a 1-0 pitch with two outs in the second. He gave up three hits, two of them by Adams, in eight innings against St. Louis for his seventh career complete game and third in a loss. Zimmermanns 76 pitches were the franchises lowest total in a complete game since it relocated to Washington in 2005. The Nationals turned two double plays. "I was throwing a lot of strikes and they were coming up hacking," Zimmermann said. "I was locating the fastball, got a lot of groundballs and had good defence behind me." Just no offence. "He was on and we were off," cleanup man Adam LaRoche said after going 0 for 3. "The majority of the time when Ive seen Jordan, hes really had it." Adams was activated from the 15-day disabled list from a strained left calf earlier Friday and rookie Oscar Taveras was optioned to Triple-A Memphis. Lynn (7-4) struck out eight with no walks against the NL East leaders, who had won 10 of 13. Trevor Rosenthal added three more strikeouts in the ninth, working around rookie second baseman Kolten Wongs two-out error on Denard Spans routine grounder for his 18th save in 21 chancess.dddddddddddd Zimmermann is 0-5 against the Cardinals and 0-2 against the Pirates, the only two NL teams he hasnt beaten. The Cardinals have won 10 of the last 12 regular-season meetings, and beat the Nationals in the 2012 NL division series. Lynn retired his first 16 batters. He got some help from his defence when shortstop Jhonny Peralta went into the hole to snare Jayson Werths one-hop liner in the fourth and threw to first to end the inning. Jose Lobaton singled with one out in the sixth for Washingtons first baserunner and took an extra base when left fielder Matt Holliday bobbled the ball. But Zimmermann popped out and Span flied out to centre to end the inning. "Needless to say, he had pretty good stuff," LaRoche said. "Both guys did." Werth singled with one out in the seventh but was erased on LaRoches double-play ball. Lynn is 22-9 at home for his career, and shut out the Yankees in his first career complete game on May 27. He surrendered six runs in a total of 8 1-3 innings in a pair of losses in his next two starts at Toronto and against the Giants. The game was played in a snappy 2 hours, 3 minutes, fastest of the season at Busch Stadium. "Just a pretty quick, lifeless game offensively," LaRoche said. "Its amazing how quick that game was." NOTES: A pair of 2009 first-round draft picks are matched on Saturday with Stephen Strasburg (6-4, 2.99 ERA) opposing Shelby Miller (7-5, 3.59 ERA). Miller is 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA against Washington. ... All four of Adams homers have come at home. ... LaRoche made two nice defensive plays at first, scooping up the relay on Peraltas double-play ball in the fifth and then snaring Matt Carpenters smash in the sixth. ... Zimmermann had won seven straight decisions in June before Friday, dating to 2012. ' ' '