Toronto tops Cleveland to stay alive in ALCS

TORONTO — Josh Donaldson homered to give Toronto a long-awaited lead, and the Blue Jays finally had a breakthrough with the bats, beating Cleveland 5-1 on Tuesday to avert a sweep in the AL Championship Series.

The Indians lead the matchup 3-1, but Donaldson and a poised Aaron Sanchez handed them their first loss of this postseason.

Edwin Encarnacion later hit a two-run single, a welcome sight for a raucous Rogers Centre crowd that had fallen silent watching its team reach the brink of elimination because of a slumbering offense.

Donaldson’s solo shot to left-center field off Corey Kluber in the third put the Blue Jays ahead for the first time all series.

Two innings after that, the former A’s third baseman made an outstanding diving stop to preserve a one-run edge.

Sanchez, the American League ERA champion, allowed a run and two hits in six innings, and the bullpen finished with three perfect innings.

Donaldson, the reigning AL MVP and sporting a still freshly shaved face, opened the scoring with his first home run of these playoffs.

The wild-card Blue Jays made it 2-0 in the fourth when Ezequiel Carrera’s blooper fell between three Cleveland fielders in left-center for an RBI single.

Brett Cecil, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna pitched an inning each in relief for the Jays.

Taking no chances, Toronto manager John Gibbons brought in Osuna, his closer, in a non-save situation to finish off Cleveland.

The Indians had a chance to take the lead in the third when Tyler Naquin hit a leadoff double and went to third on a sacrifice.

The Blue Jays added two more runs in the seventh after a throwing error by reliever Bryan Shaw.

Encarnacion came up with the bases loaded and the crowd chanting “Eddie” — and his hard grounder skipped off the mound and into center field to make it 4-1.