Semien's 40th homer lifts Blue Jays back into playoff spot

Semien became the fifth second baseman to hit 40 home runs in a season, and the Toronto Blue Jays moved back into a playoff position by beating the Minnesota Twins 6-2 Saturday.

Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run homer, and Bo Bichette had three hits and two RBIs as the Blue Jays rebounded from a 7-3 loss and improved to a big league-best 14-3 in September.

Toronto (83-65) moved a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees (83-66) for the second AL wild-card berth, one game behind Boston (85-65).

Steven Matz (13-7) won his fourth straight decision, allowing two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He is 4-0 with a 2.72 ERA in his past seven starts. Toronto had lost its eight previous home games against the Twins since Aug. 26, 2017.

Bailey Ober (2-3) retired the his eight batters and nine of 10 before Semien's leadoff homer in the fourth. Semien joined ​​Rogers Hornsby, Davey Johnson, Ryne Sandberg, and Brian Dozier as the only second basemen to hit 40 home runs in a season.

Four of Semien’s homers have come in his 21 appearances at shortstop.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with a walk, Bo Bichette singled and Hernández hit his 28th homer, a drive into the left-field bullpen. Hernández leads the Blue Jays with 106 RBIs.

Ober allowed four runs and four hits in four innings, snapping a 10-start streak in which he allowed no more than three earned runs per outing.

Minnesota's Josh Donaldson homered against his former team for the second straight game, hitting a two-run shot off Matz in the first. Donaldson’s homer was his 24th.

Trevor Richards retired Brent Rooker to strand runners at the corners in the sixth. Tim Mayza worked 1 1/3 innings, Adam Cimber got two outs in the eighth and Jordan Romano finished.

ROSTER MOVES

Blue Jays: Toronto placed RHP Joakim Soria on the family medical emergency list and recalled RHP Anthony Castro from Triple-A Buffalo.

Twins: Minnesota placed OF Rob Refsnyder (right elbow) on the 10-day injured list and selected INF Drew Maggi from Triple-A St. Paul. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins transferred LHP Taylor Rogers to the 60-day IL.

FINALLY!

After 11 seasons and 1,044 minor league games — the 32-year-old Maggi reached the big leagues for the first time. He was teammates with Jason Kipnis and Mike Leake at Arizona State,

“It means everything to me,” Maggi said. “I thought my career was over 20 times.”

UP NEXT

Blue Jays RHP José Berríos (11-8, 3.43) starts against his former team for the first time in Sunday’s series finale. Drafted by Minnesota in 2012, Berríos went 55-43 over six seasons with the Twins before being traded to Toronto in June.