his 13th ball, when Iftikhar shelled a low edge at first slip off Cook - ironically the same position in which Mohammad Hafeez, the man whom he had replaced, had been standing when he gave Root a

TORONTO -- Troy Tulowitzki is the newest member of Torontos 20-homer club.Tulowitzki and Russell Martin hit back-to-back home runs, Marcus Stroman pitched 6 1/3 innings to win for the first time in four starts and the Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros 9-2 on Sunday.Tulowitski joined Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson and Michael Saunders as Blue Jays with 20 or more home runs. Toronto and Baltimore are the only teams in the majors to boast four hitters with 20 or more homers.Thats what we do best, manager John Gibbons said.Toronto has hit 166 home runs this season, second to Baltimore, which has hit 176.Encarnacion hit his 33rd home run, a solo blast off Luke Gregerson, as the Blue Jays won for the eighth time in 10 meetings with the Astros. Encarnacion is second in homers in the majors, behind Baltimores Mark Trumbo, who has 34.Containing Torontos powerful bats proved too much for the Astros, who dropped two of three to the AL East leaders.They never let up, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of the Blue Jays. Their offense is pretty potent when it gets going.Toronto (67-51) is a season-best 16 games above .500.Tulowitzki went 3-for-4 with three RBI. He hit an RBI single in the first, singled and scored in the fourth, and homered in the fifth.Martin followed with a first-pitch blast off Mike Fiers. It was the seventh time this season Toronto has hit consecutive home runs.First-pitch changeup, Fiers said. It seemed like he was sitting on it.Martin also made the defensive play of the game, leaning into Houstons first base dugout to catch Alex Bregmans foul pop-up in the seventh.For a catcher, thats as good an opportunity youre going to get to make a nice play, Martin said. It felt good for sure.Stroman (9-5) allowed two runs, one earned, and five hits to win for the first time since July 20 at Arizona.Carlos Correa had three hits and Jason Castro hit a solo home run for the Astros, who lost their second straight following a four-game win streak.American League batting leader Jose Altuve went 0-for-4 and failed to reach safely for the first time in 44 road games.We often go the way he goes, Hinch said. Im sure everybody in the ballpark is pretty surprised when he doesnt get on base.Astros first baseman Marwin Gonzalez was hit on the left knee by a pitch from Stroman in the second. Gonzalez stayed in to run the bases but was replaced by Tyler White in the bottom of the inning. X-rays were negative and Gonzalez is day to day.He didnt feel like he could move around at full speed so I pulled him, Hinch said.In the third, Encarnacion was hit on the left hand by a pitch from Fiers. He remained in the game. He doubled and scored in the fifth, then homered in the seventh.Fiers (8-6) allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. The right-hander has surrendered five home runs in his past two outings.They made me pay in that one inning, Fiers said. A couple of swings and the game is changed.AMAZING ARMSAs part of its 40th season celebrations, the Blue Jays honored seven former pitchers in a pre-game ceremony. Dave Stieb and former Cy Young award winners Pat Hentgen and Roy Halladay all threw out ceremonial first pitches.CANADIAN CLUBBERSMartin and Michael Saunders (20) are the second pair of Canadian teammates to hit 10 or more home runs in a season. The first to do it were Corey Koskie (25) and Justin Morneau (19) for Minnesota in 2004.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: OF Jake Marisnick (right groin) missed his fourth straight game. Marisnick could return Tuesday against St. Louis. Houston is off Monday.UP NEXTAstros: LHP Dallas Keuchel (7-11, 4.56) faces Cardinals LHP Jamie Garcia (9-8, 3.93) on Tuesday. Keuchel pitched a three-hitter against Texas on Aug. 5.Blue Jays: Toronto opens a three-game series in New York against the Yankees on Monday. RHP R.A Dickey (8-12, 4.61) starts against RHP Chad Green (1-2, 4.94). Dickey has a 7.61 ERA in his past five starts. Bud Norris Blue Jays Jersey . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Justin Smoak Jersey http://www.bluejaysonline.com/blue-jays-roger-clemens-jersey/ . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. Roberto Alomar Jersey . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Justin Smoak Blue Jays Jersey . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. Pakistan 3 for 1 (Azhar 0*, Yasir 0*) trail England 328 (Moeen 108, Bairstow 55, Sohail 5-68) by 325 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMoeen Ali once again demonstrated the power that resides in Englands allrounder-laden middle order as he stroked his way to a brilliant counterattacking 108 - his third Test hundred and his second match-defining score in as many innings - to rescue his side from a familiar top-order collapse in the fourth Investec Test.By the close of the opening days play at the Kia Oval, England had seized control of a contest that could yet propel them to the top of the world Test rankings, if results elsewhere go their way. Left with three overs in which to go for broke before the close, Stuart Broad prised out Pakistans most obdurate find of the tour, Sami Aslam, lbw for 3, as England inched closer to their coveted clean sweep of series wins against all Test opponents.But, with Wahab Riaz back in the Pakistan side and restored to the fire-breathing hostility that had secured the spoils in the last Test series between these sides before Christmas, they had been required once again to take the scenic route to the ascendancy.The first delivery of Moeens innings summed up the challenge that England faced shortly after lunch, as he arrived at the crease to join Jonny Bairstow with his side floundering on 110 for 5 after winning the toss under overcast skies, and on a livid green pitch that looked more threatening than it actually turned out to be.Wahab - with three wickets, one drop and a no-ball reprieve already to his name in the first eight-and-a-half overs of a typically vigorous onslaught - greeted the incoming Moeen with a scorching bouncer that tailed into the left-hander and sconed him so hard on the badge of his helmet that it rebounded clean into the hands of backward point.Pakistan, at this stage, were swarming as only they can when that whiff of cordite hits their nostrils. But Moeens refusal to be flustered is a trademark of his game, and in the course of two vital and urgently-paced stands - 93 for the sixth wicket with Bairstow and 79 with Englands man of the moment, Chris Woakes - he first shored up the foundations of Englands innings before taking the game away in the final session from a tiring Pakistan attack.Sohail Khan once again emerged as Pakistans stand-out wicket-taker, with 5 for 68 in 20.4 toiling overs, but Pakistans fielders were unable to match the application of their bowlers. Mohammad Amir proved especially luckless in his best spell since his return to Test cricket as a genuine opportunity to roll England aside inside two sessions hit the turf with a thud. Despite the excellence of their contributions, both Moeen and Bairstow were the beneficiaries of key reprieves early in their innings that Pakistan will be sure to rue as this contest develops. On 13, and without having added to his lunchtime score, Bairstow poked flimsily at another exocet outside off stump and lobbed a simple catch to Yasir Shah at backward point.Wahabs celebrations, however, were cut short by umpire Marais Erasmuss outstretched arm - and the bowler could have no complaint. He had been warned after the first ball of the over that he was getting close to transgressing, then called for both of his subsequent deliveries, the second of which was the vital one.Bairstow, whose 83 at Edgbaston had arguably been the defining knock of that contest, instantly bunted a four through the covers to rub salt in Wahabs wounds, and set about ensuring that Pakistan would be made to pay for his let-off.It wasnt just Wahab whom the pair had to overcome. At the other end, Amir was locating that prodigious late swing that made him such a threat in his first coming as a Test cricketer, and on 23, he rapped Bairstow on the back pad with a fierce late inswinger that Pakistan felt obliged to review - the ball was shown to be slipping over the top of off stump.Then, on 9, came the key let-off, as Azhar Ali at third slip made a Horlicks of a low edge off Amir that hit him on the wrists. AA similar juggled opportunity had earlier been good enough to send Gary Ballance on his way for 8, but this one refused to stick, as did another technical chance at the hands of the same fielder six runs later, although only a harsh judge could criticise Azhar for this one - a firm clip off the pads against Yasir that struck him on the chest at short leg but rebounded out of his reach.ddddddddddddBut as the session progressed, Englands confidence grew, and with it the urgency in their run-harvesting. Bairstows exemplary judgment of a quick single means that his stands are rarely anything less than hyper-charged, and with tea approaching, the pair were reprising their game-changing efforts in the second innings at Edgbaston.Moeen clipped the debutant Iftikhar Ahmed over midwicket for the first six of the innings, then rolled his wrists on a pull through midwicket four balls later to join his team-mate on fifty, and though Bairstow fell soon afterwards for 55, dangling his bat outside the line to inside-edge Amir through to the wicketkeeper, the arrival of Woakes offered Pakistan no let-up.With an England-record 23 wickets in a Test series against Pakistan, Woakes would be having the time of his life with or without any extra strings to his bow. Throw in his sublime form with the bat, however, and you end up with an allrounder with the form and confidence for any situation. With his cover-drive in preposterously good order, he cashed in on Wahabs angle across his bows to breeze along to 45 from 57 balls, before feathering a thin edge to give Sohail and Pakistan a late chance to get their way back on track.Sohail did his best to oblige, extracting a marginal lbw against Stuart Broad for 0 before bowling Steven Finn through the gate for 8 to give Moeen a nervy few minutes as he biffed his way through the nineties with only James Anderson for company. But, having flashed a four past a baffled Younis Khan at slip, he took a premeditated swipe for six over deep midwicket off Yasir, to complete his century and cement Englands revival.Though he fell soon afterwards for 108, caught at square leg to complete Sohails five-for, Moeens personal contribution had all but doubled Englands halfway innings total.There had been little in the days opening exchanges to hint at the ebb and flow to come, with Alex Hales contentious early dismissal at square leg appearing to come against the run of play, given the fluency of Alastair Cook and Joe Roots initial strokeplay. Hales, on 6, clipped firmly to Yasir at square leg, who scooped a low chance that umpire Oxenford referred upstairs for a second opinion. His initial instinct was that it carried, but the incident happened so quickly that none of the TV cameras could keep up with the blur of action, so the decision stood.England, however, had reckoned against the determination of Wahab to make an impact on the series. After entering the attack in the 12th over, he should have struck with his 13th ball, when Iftikhar shelled a low edge at first slip off Cook - ironically the same position in which Mohammad Hafeez, the man whom he had replaced, had been standing when he gave Root a crucial reprieve at Edgbaston last week.For once, Cook failed to make that sort of a let-off pay. He had added just one more run when he leant back on a pull against Sohail and under-edged into his own stumps. One over later, Root, whose stunning double-century at Old Trafford has been bookended by a cluster of limp dismissals, was suckered by Wahabs extra pace and lift to tickle an edge through to Sarfraz Ahmed.In Wahabs next over, he made it a collapse of 3 for 5 in 15 balls when the under-pressure James Vince was detonated from the crease by a fierce lifter that forced a defensive back-foot poke to give Sarfraz his second catch of the morning. At that stage, the contest was ripe for the seizing. But Moeen and his middle-order cohorts had other plans. ' ' '