Today in Jays History: Josh Donaldson’s Three-Homer Night Lifts Toronto Past Minnesota

On August 28, 2016, the Toronto Blue Jays looked like they were hitting on all cylinders at the right time. The Twins came to town, but Toronto’s offense had an answer in a 9-6 win that turned one night’s performance into a permanent highlight in franchise memory: Josh Donaldson connected for three home runs.

The most striking part of the night was not merely that Donaldson homered, but that he reached the rare three-homer mark in the same game. According to the recap published as part of “Today in Jays History,” Donaldson’s three-homer outburst was his first and only career three-home-run performance. In an MLB season where multi-homer games are notable but not common, that distinction gives the moment extra weight when fans look back at the run the Jays were building.

Toronto’s win mattered in the standings race. The same recap notes that the victory improved the Blue Jays to a 74-56 record, placing them two games ahead of the Boston Red Sox at the time. That kind of margin is meaningful in the thick of the race, especially when teams are playing tight series against division foes and games begin to stack up quickly toward the final weeks of the schedule.

The atmosphere reflected how strongly the crowd felt about Donaldson’s night. The recap describes fans celebrating by tossing hats onto the field, a nod to the “cap trick” nickname that followed the three-homer spectacle. Even if the celebration is a little play on words, it captures what made the game stick: this was not a quiet, statistical win, but one that looked and felt like momentum carrying over from inning to inning.

Donaldson’s place in the Blue Jays’ modern history also helps explain why this particular game keeps resurfacing. During his time in Toronto, he became identified with the team’s power and run-production, and three homers in a single game is the type of output that becomes folklore for years afterward. For fans, that night stands out because it is both a ceiling performance and a unique occurrence, given that the “first and only” three-homer designation suggests he never again matched the same summit.

Looking forward, what to watch in the current landscape is how often franchises treat these moments as benchmarks. Baseball seasons change rapidly, but the way teams and broadcasters revisit standout performances says something about identity and memory. For Toronto supporters, Donaldson’s three-home-run game is a reminder of what the Jays can do when one of their core sluggers is fully in rhythm, and of how quickly a single afternoon can tilt the standings in August.

The historical takeaway is straightforward: in a game that finished 9-6 over Minnesota, the Blue Jays leaned on Josh Donaldson’s rare three-homer barrage to create separation in the playoff picture conversation. Even a decade later, the basic arithmetic holds, and so does the emotional punchline, hats in the air, and a three-homer night that remains singular in Donaldson’s Major League ledger.