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          SweetSpot

          What we learned Sunday: Josh Donaldson's hat trick keeps Blue Jays in AL East lead

          • Mike Mazzeo, ESPN Staff WriterAug 29, 2016, 12:25 AM ET
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            • Covers the Brooklyn Nets for ESPNNewYork.com
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          1. Josh Donaldson brought plenty of rain ... which brought out Toronto’s love of hockey: The Toronto Blue Jays started the day with a one-game lead in the American League East, so they couldn't afford to take a day off against the lowly Minnesota Twins. Their MVP more than came through on Sunday.

          Donaldson had the first three-homer game of his career Sunday, as the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of the Twins. After the 30-year-old third baseman connected for his third homer of the day, Jays fans threw their hats onto the field at Rogers Center -- celebrating a hat trick’s worth of homers that traveled a combined 1,266 feet or 385.9 meters. Perhaps they were just preparing for No. 1 overall pick Auston Matthews' rookie season with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

          It all prompted Donaldson to post this gem of a picture on Twitter:

          The Blue Jays, who now lead the Boston Red Sox by two games, play their next 15 straight games against division foes. The first nine games of that stretch will come on the road against the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees. Toronto will then return home to face the Boston Red Sox and the Rays before heading out West.

          Donaldson is currently slashing .294/.407/.578 and on pace for 41 homers, 131 runs scored and 106 walks. He faces some stiff competition from Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Jose Altuve in his quest to capture back-to-back American League MVP awards, but Donaldson is certainly doing everything in his power to sway the vote in his direction.

          The Twins have lost 10 straight.

          2. Five Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers shut down the Chicago Cubs' potent offense: Led by left-handed starter Brock Stewart, who had allowed 15 earned runs in his three previous appearances this season, Los Angeles took two of three from the Cubs with a 1-0 victory Sunday. Stewart, 24, spun five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out eight. He also picked up his first MLB hit. Four relievers combined to finish the job.

          Chicago came in ranked third in the majors with 655 runs scored. Los Angeles had a chance to sweep the series, had the new Kenley Jansen-Carlos Ruiz battery not failed in the opener Friday. Nevertheless, the Dodgers will take it. They have won four 1-0 games this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information, tied with the rival San Francisco Giants for the most in the majors.

          The only run was scored as a result of a bang-bang play at second. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, Adrian Gonzalez hit a grounder to third. Javier Baez tried to get the force, but Corey Seager slid in safely a fraction before Ben Zobrist touched the bag after receiving the throw. The play stood upon review. Dodgers announcer Vin Scully called it best, saying the final result came down to a “toenail.”

          Baez could've gone to first for the easy out but had a mental lapse and threw to Zobrist, who was positioned in the shift and had far to go to reach the bag.

          The Cubs (14-2 in August before a 5-4 West Coast road trip) didn’t seem too discouraged, however, as they headed for the team charter in onesies. Manager Joe Maddon’s club got six shutout innings from southpaw Jon Lester and a 2-for-4 afternoon at the plate from struggling outfielder Jason Heyward. Heyward has five hits in his past 10 at-bats to raise his batting average to .231. Being 35 games over .500 certainly helps ease the sting a bit.

          3. Another game ... another one-run win for the Texas Rangers: Make Texas 29-8 in games decided by one run this season, which, according to ESPN Stats & Information, would be the best win percentage in the modern era in this category if they can stay at this pace (.784). The Orioles posted a .763 win percentage in one-run games in 2012.

          The Rangers' 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians -- which allowed them to take three of four in the series -- wouldn't have been possible without six innings of one-run ball from lefty Derek Holland, whose ERA now sits at 4.68. This is actually Holland's second straight six-inning, one-run start since he came off the DL, so that's promising. Texas sure could use some more quality starting depth behind Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish.

          The Indians loaded the bases against Rangers closer Sam Dyson with one out in the ninth but weren't able to tie the game.

          Newcomer Jonathan Lucroy -- who blocked a trade to Cleveland before waiving his no-trade clause to join Texas -- went 4-for-12 in the series and delivered an RBI on Sunday, while fellow newcomer Carlos Gomez made a dazzling catch to prevent a run in the sixth.

          The Indians went 2-5 on the road this past week but still have a 4 1/2 game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. They open a 10-game homestand against Minnesota on Monday.

          4. The Kansas City Royals might be down, but it doesn't feel like they're out: Kansas City came into its rubber game in Boston with a 5.6 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. But after beating the Red Sox 10-4 on Sunday Night Baseball, the Royals have won 12 of 14, and it doesn't appear that they intend to slow down. Streaking Kansas City broke the game open with eight runs in the sixth inning to take a 10-4 lead. It was the Royals' highest-scoring inning since Aug. 5, 2014, when they scored eight runs, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Sub-.200-hitting Raul Mondesi delivered the big blow in the frame when he knocked a three-run triple.

          Boston was once again betrayed by its leaky bullpen. Matt Barnes surrendered five runs and three hits without recording an out. David Ortiz's 534th career home run -- which tied fellow Sox legend Jimmy Foxx for 18th on the all-time list -- proved to be the Red Sox's lone highlight.

          5. New York won a baseball championship: OK, so it wasn’t the Yankees or the Mets. But congratulations to the youngsters from Endwell for capturing the state’s first Little League World Series title since 1964. Right-hander Ryan Harlost struck out eight over six innings in the team’s 2-1 win over South Korea. It was the first U.S. LLWS title since 2011.

          Meanwhile, both of New York’s MLB teams lost on Sunday. The Mets are 2 1/2 games back of the second wild-card spot in the NL, while the Yankees are 3 1/2 games back of that spot in the AL. The injury-riddled Mets -- who already didn’t have Yoenis Cespedes (playing through a quad injury) and Neil Walker (playing through a back injury) in the lineup -- lost hot-hitting shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who had just come off the disabled list Aug. 19, to a knee injury in the first inning of their 5-1 loss to the Phillies.

          The Yankees were shut down by Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman for seven innings in a 5-0 setback. Wunderkind Gary Sanchez didn’t homer for the first time in four games, but he connected for a single and a double. The future certainly seems bright, but the team's present deficit in the standings might be too much to overcome.

          Fangraphs gives the Mets an 18.5 percent chance of reaching the playoffs and the Yankees a 5.7 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason. At least it isn't zero.