Kids are all right, vet lets em down

Toronto loses and learns with the least experienced lineup in the majors this season

- MIKE WILNER

Blue Jays call-up Luis De Los Santos started at third base against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. He went 0-for-4 and struck out twice.

On a day when the Blue Jays took Junior Jays Sunday quite literally, it was a 33-year-old nine-year veteran who wore the goat horns in a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.

The ultrareliable Chad Green, who seamlessly stepped into the closer's role vacated first by Jordan Romano's injury and then the trade of Yimi Garcia, was called upon to protect a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning. He gave up a pair of one-out singles before Royce Lewis, last year's postseason hero, took him into the flower beds in deep left field for a goahead three-run homer.

It was Green's first blown save as a Jay and tarnished a day in which Toronto put its youth movement into overdrive.

After waving the white flag on their season at the end of July, the Jays have given plenty of playing time to younger players but not more than in their first game of September.

Six rookies, including pitcher Yariel Rodríguez, were in the starting lineup for Sunday's series finale.