Gray Looks To Bounce Back, A's Face Blue Jays

(AP) -- Another rough home outing was not the way Sonny Gray hoped to return from the All-Star break for the Oakland Athletics.

The right-hander looks to rebound Wednesday night against former teammate Josh Donaldson and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.

Gray (10-4, 2.29 ERA) tossed a two-hitter in a 2-0 win at Cleveland on July 12 in his last outing before the break. Though he didn't pitch in last Tuesday's All-Star Game, Gray enjoyed his much-deserved experience and was poised to continue his successful season.

However, for the second time in as many home starts Gray allowed five earned runs over six innings during Friday's 5-0 loss to Minnesota. For the first time this season, he yielded multiple home runs when Brian Dozier went deep to lead off the game and Trevor Plouffe belted a grand slam.

"(Five days earlier), Sonny was at his sharpest. For whatever reason he just wasn't as sharp as normal," Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt told MLB's official website. "It's not easy to come off the break and feel great."

Gray was dominant in his first six outings at home, going 3-2 with a 1.62 ERA while walking six and striking out 33.

He was very good there July 3 of last year when he gave up arun in seven innings of a 4-1 victory to improve to 1-1 and lower his ERA 2.08 against Toronto.

Gray will see a familiar face in Donaldson, who was 1 for 20 in his previous six games before recording a pair of doubles in five at-bats with an RBI during Tuesday's 7-1 victory in his return to Oakland (43-52) after he was traded to Toronto in November.

"I still care about a lot of guys that are out there on this team and this field, including the coaching staff," said Donaldson, who played his first four seasons with the A's. "It's still one of those things I'm still pulling for those guys even though I'm not there. I want them to do well. Just not this week."

Russell Martin, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion each homered as the Blue Jays (48-47) won for the third time in four games.

"I have my teammates doing their thing, which made it easier for me," Donaldson said. "They're dangerous and they're just good hitters. You look at our lineup and you go one through nine and you go, `Where's the out at?'"

The third player in franchise history to hit 20 home runs in at least six straight seasons, Bautista has homered in a season-high three consecutive games. He's 4 for 6 with a home run against Gray.

Encarnacion is 1 for 6 against him.

Looking to remain in Toronto's rotation, Felix Doubront (1-0, 4.50) makes his third straight start looking to rebound from yielding seven runs - five earned - and 10 hits in five innings of an 11-10 loss at Kansas City on July 12.

"He didn't have his best command, but they were also finding holes," Martin said.

The left-hander has often battled with command issues while walking 13 in going 1-2 with a 7.85 ERA in four starts against the A's.

Brett Lawrie, who came to Oakland in the Donaldson deal, is 10 for 26 (.385) in his last seven home games.

Toronto had scored four runs during a four-game skid in Oakland before Tuesday's win.

Updated July 22, 2015