dd Stokes took advantage of the dropped chances and rippe

TORONTO -- All-Star slugger Josh Donaldson said the first half of Torontos season has been a little bit of a roller coaster.That ride is heading upwards as the first half ends.Donaldson hit a three-run homer, R.A. Dickey won back-to-back starts for the first time in a month and the Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 on Sunday in the teams final game before the All-Star break.Toronto heads into the break having won eight of nine and 18 of 25. The Blue Jays are second to Baltimore in the AL East and tied with Boston for the first wild-card spot.We feel pretty good with where were at right now, Donaldson said. Weve been playing well as of late. Hopefully have a nice break, everybody comes back ready to go and continue this momentum.Dickey said Torontos recent surge feels like it could be a sustained thing.Donaldson is the sixth player in American League history to hit at least 20 home runs and score 80 runs or more before the All-Star break. The others were Lou Gehrig (1936), Ted Williams (1946), Reggie Jackson (1969), Frank Thomas (1994), and Alex Rodriguez (2000).I think that has something to do with the guys hitting behind me, Donaldson said, referring to slugger Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Saunders. Bautista is currently recovering from a sore left big toe. Encarnacion and Saunders will be joining Donaldson for the All-Star Game in San Diego.Donaldson is the first player to score 80 or more runs before the break since 2008, when Ian Kinsler (84) and Hanley Ramirez (80) both did it.Dickey (7-9) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time since victories at Boston on June 3 and at Detroit on June 8.We didnt do much against Dickey, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. We hit a couple of balls hard early and after that he settled in. He did a very nice job.Jesse Chavez got two outs in the eighth and Brett Cecil got the third. Bo Schultz finished for Toronto, which has won eight of 11 against Detroit.The Blue Jays took a 2-0 led against Anibal Sanchez (5-10) in the second when catcher Josh Thole hit a bases-loaded single. For Thole, the RBI were his first since hitting a solo home run at Tampa Bay on April 4, Torontos second game of the season.Donaldson, the 2015 AL MVP, made it 5-0 with a two-out drive in the fourth, his 23rd.Saunders made it 6-1 with an RBI single off Kyle Ryan in the eighth.Sanchez lost his second straight start, allowing five runs and eight hits in four innings. He has lost seven straight decisions as a starter, including five in a row on the road.I want to make the second half strong, Sanchez said. Right now I can say I had the worst first half of my whole career. Ive got to continue working.Encarnacion sat out after dropping his appeal of a one-game suspension for making contact with umpire Vic Carapazza. An All-Star this season for the third time, Encarnacion was suspended for bumping Carapazzas shoulder after being ejected at the end of the first inning in Torontos 19-inning loss to Cleveland on July 1.THIS IS 40Toronto continued its 40th season celebrations with a pregame ceremony honoring several former Blue Jays, including Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, slugger Joe Carter and two-time World Series-winning manager Cito Gaston.TRAINERS ROOMTigers: OF J.D. Martinez (right elbow) is taking swings but is still a few weeks away from a return, Ausmus said.Blue Jays: Donaldson started at DH for the second straight day, with Darwin Barney at 3B.UP NEXTTigers: Following the All-Star break, RHP Justin Verlander (8-6, 4.07) starts the opener of a three-game home series against Kansas City. Verlander has won once in his past four starts.Blue Jays: Toronto heads on the road after the All-Star break, with RHP Marcus Stroman (7-4, 4.89) starting the opener of a three-game series at Oakland. 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Ben Stokes last three Test innings against India in 2014, yielded three ducks. He made amends for his earlier failures in England, by scoring his fourth ton, which guided his side to a sizable first-innings score of 537 in their first Test against India in Rajkot on Thursday.India took the new ball at the start of play on the second day in a bid to make early inroads, but the hosts were up against Moeen Ali, only a run away from his fourth Test ton and Stokes batting confidently on 19.It took Ali just three balls to reach the milestone as he dabbed as short ball from Mohammad Shami past point for a single. Ali then switched gears in an attempt to push the tempo and smashed Umesh Yadav for three fours from the second over of the day. Stokes joined in on the boundary frenzy and thumped two fours in the next two overs.Ali made a rare error in the 100th over the innings, when he left a straight delivery from Shami, which rattled the stumps. India hoped that his dismissal would prompt a collapse. But they were wrong as Jonny Bairstow joined forces with Stokes to steal the session from the hosts.The duo added 99 runs for the sixth wicket from 21.1 overs and scored at a brisk rate of 4.67. India compounded their own woes by dropping Stokes twice, Wriddhiman Saha, the wicket keeper, the culprit.dddddddddddd Stokes took advantage of the dropped chances and ripped every bad ball apart. He took 11 runs off Ravindra Jadejas first over of the day, then repeatedly targeted R Ashwin the moment he dropped short. Stokes added a brutal 65 off 95 in the session.Stokes, in the post-lunch session, adopted a more cautious approach as he approached his ton. He took little over 12 overs to reach the milestone, which he did by muscling Jadeja through the cover-point region for four. It was Stokes first ton in India. His four centuries have come in four different continents - Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia.His innings, along with centuries from Joe Root and Ali, helped the tourists post a massive 537 in their innings, which is the highest total England has scored in India since 1985, when they had scored 652 for 7 in Chennai during the 1984-85 tour. This is also the first time since 2009 when three batsmen from a visiting team scored centuries in the same innings in India. In the 2009 Test, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Prasanna Jayawardene amassed tons at Motera in 2008-09. ' ' '