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TORONTO – Jose Bautista returned to the Blue Jays starting lineup, as the designated hitter, on Tuesday afternoon. He made his presence felt at first opportunity, hitting a home run to left-centre field in the first inning. The homer was Bautistas first since June 6, a span of 17 games. The slugger wasnt yet ready to resume playing defence. "I think the decision was made by Gibby to give me one or two days to kind of ease back into it," said Bautista. "Depending on how I feel tomorrow, possibly playing right field. If not, definitely in Oakland sometime." Bautistas bat is a welcome sight. However, because he couldnt play right field, manager John Gibbons was forced to send Adam Lind to the bench. The Blue Jays usually employ a first base-designated hitter combination of Lind and Edwin Encarnacion when an opponent starts a right-handed pitcher. Encarnacion started at first base on Tuesday. Baseballs leader with 59 walks and a .432 on-base percentage, Bautista did not take issue with Gibbons decision to keep him out of right field for at least one more day. "I want to play today and Im consciously not going to fight my manager because what hes doing I think is reasonable," said Bautista. "Same thing tomorrow. But if I feel well then theres no restrictions. Its not if I want to play and Im going to make it worse; I think Im old enough and disciplined enough to not risk making it worse by playing defence too soon." The Blue Jays went 3-4 in Bautistas absence from the starting lineup, including three-straight losses to the Chicago White Sox in games started by a left-handed pitcher. Toronto is scheduled to face three left-handers during its four-game set in Oakland, which starts on Thursday evening. The club could face two more southpaws next week in its three-game series in Anaheim. Adidas Ultra Boost Rebajas . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork. Adidas Deerupt Hombre Baratas .com) - Darius Carter and Ron Baker scored 18 points apiece to help 13th-ranked Wichita State beat Evansville 61-41 on Saturday. http://www.baratasnmd.com/adidas-nmd-cs2-baratas.html . -- Mike Shanahan gave Robert Griffin III a rest, and may have turned up the pressure on himself, too. Adidas NMD R1 Rebajas . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. Adidas GSG Baratas . The top-ranked Williams carried her winning momentum from 2013 into the new season, beating No. 2-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to defend her title at the Brisbane International and set the tone for the Australian Open.PHILADELPHIA -- The Canucks say they are happy picking sixth in the NHL draft as it stands now but that hasnt stopped new GM Jim Benning from making calls. "We think at six were going to get a real good player that we like, but up until (Friday) when the draft starts well keep inquiring and seeing what it takes to move up and if weve got the assets to make it happen," Benning said Thursday on the eve of the draft. Benning has a major asset to dangle in the form of centre Ryan Kesler. "Were talking to teams, but at the end of the day were going to do what makes sense to us and to try to help Ryan out," Benning said. "If we dont think we can get a fair deal for him, then were going to keep him and hes a Vancouver Canuck. And were happy to have him back because hes a great player." Kesler has reportedly given the Canucks a list of potential teams he would join, with some suggesting that list is growing shorter. Benning says dealing with a smaller pool of potential trade partners is more difficult but "that is what it is." "Were talking to the agent on a daily basis annd were talking to teams and were hoping to figure something out thats hes happy with and were happy with.dddddddddddd" Kesler had 25 goals and 18 assists in 77 games last season. "If were going to go down that path, we want to try to get NHL-calibre players back to help with that," Benning said of losing Keslers offence. Asked about looking for a veteran goalie, Benning said: "Were going to look at all of our options on that." "Weve said before were happy with the progress that Eddie (Lack) made last year. But as free agency comes up, were going to look at options and then if it makes sense for us, well do that." The Canucks also have Jacob Markstrom in goal. Benning said he is not hung up about trades within his own conference. "I dont think that has any bearing on what were trying to do in Vancouver," he said. "We want to try to get some younger players here this next few years going forward. We have (forward) Bo Horvat who we drafted last year and were going to have the sixth pick this year. So were getting some building blocks." ' ' '