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“He’s been doing it all year,” said Jays manager John Gibbons of Donaldson. “Same kind of year he had last year, and he was the MVP.”

Tulowitzki had two singles, walked and was stellar as usual with the glove. In his last 16 games, he is batting .349 after posting a .199 average over his first 47 games. Tulowitzki’s two-run single in the eighth was huge, given that the Jays hit 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position on the night and left 14 runners on base.

Tulowitzki, a five time all-star, smacked a fastball outside to the opposite field for the winning runs.

“I wanted to use the whole field,” he said. “I understood I didn’t need to take a big swing or hit a home run — a base hit was just was effective.”

Saunders, in the midst of a team-led campaign to be named to next week’s All-Star Game, also carried a hot bat, smacking a double, a single, drawing a walk and scoring three times.

Jays right-hander Drew Hutchison pitched well enough in a spot start for the injured Marco Estrada, throwing a solid six innings, while giving up six hits and three runs, including a pair of solo home runs to Justin Upton and Nick Castellanos, though he didn’t factor in the decision.

Jason Grilli picked up the win while closer Roberto Osuna recorded his 18th save by pitching a clean ninth. Hutchison was in the race to be named the Jays’ fifth starter out of spring training and though he pitched well, was sent to Triple-A Buffalo, where he is 6-3 with a 2.78 ERA.

“I had a really good change-up tonight, my slider wasn’t really there early on but I thought it got better as the game went,” said Hutchison. “I think I probably had the best change-up I’ve had in a while, so I think overall it was positive.”