Jays take weekend series against Bosox
Published Monday June 1st, 2009
Toronto gets back on track by winning two of three
TORONTO - The Toronto Blue Jays won their weekend series with the Boston Red Sox and that's just what they needed to do after a brutal nine-game losing streak. Yet taking two of three from their AL East rivals felt a little less satisfying when the chance for a sweep was there.
"When you win the first two, you obviously want to win the third," centre-fielder Vernon Wells said after yesterday's 8-2 loss. "It's frustrating that we didn't compete as well as we'd like to but when you go through a nine-game losing streak and you say you're going to take two out of three against Boston, you'll take it."
Steadied by consecutive wins to open the three-game set, any thoughts the Blue Jays (29-24) had of exacting some revenge after getting swept by the Red Sox (29-22) at Fenway Park a week and a half ago to start their slide were quickly eradicated by a dominant Jon Lester.
The lefty allowed just a run on three hits while striking out a career-high 12 batters over six innings, eating up Toronto hitters as Boston's sluggers went to work on Ricky Romero (2-2).
The rookie southpaw, struggling badly with his command in his second start since coming off the disabled list, was in trouble in each of his four innings of work, giving up a solo blast to Kevin Youkilis with two out in the first and a three-run shot to Dustin Pedroia with two down in the fourth to open up a 4-1 lead.
Lester (4-5) took that advantage and ran with it, recording eight of his final nine outs via strikeout. A comeback never looked possible during the painfully slow and tedious affair before a Rogers Centre crowd of 30,496.
"He could have beat anybody with the stuff he had today," said Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston.
The Blue Jays scored their only run off him in the first, when Wells' fly ball brought home Marco Scutaro just ahead of Bay's throw from left field. They didn't manage another until the eighth, when Alex Rios turned on a 2-2 Justin Masterson offering for his sixth of the season, making it an 8-2 affair.
It was academic by that point anyway.
"You kind of wonder how a guy like that comes into the game with a six ERA with the kind of stuff that he has," Wells said of Lester, who has been inconsistent this season and lowered his ERA to 5.65. "When he's on, it's difficult and when you see the kind of numbers he put up against us, especially with the strikeouts, it was impressive."
Romero had opened the season strongly for the Blue Jays, winning two of his first three starts while allowing just four runs in his first 21 innings. But since being activated from the DL on May 15, he's surrendered 10 earned runs in 9 1-3 innings, coughing up five homers over that span.
In other AL games yesterday it was:
Indians 5 Yankees 4
At Cleveland, Jhonny Peralta drove in three runs, including the winning single with one out in the ninth inning to help the Indians beat the New York Yankees.
Peralta lined a 3-1 pitch from David Robertson past diving third baseman Alex Rodriguez on the backhand side to score Trevor Crowe from second base.
Mark Teixeira extended his season-high hitting streak to 13 games and drove in four runs for New York. He hit a two-run homer, his 16th, in the sixth off former Yankees right-hander Carl Pavano. His two-run double off Matt Herges in the eighth tied it at 4.
Kerry Wood (2-2) pitched one scoreless inning for the win. He got Jorge Posada to bounce into an inning-ending double play to end the top of the ninth.
Tigers 3 Orioles 0
At Baltimore, Edwin Jackson allowed two hits over eight innings, Curtis Granderson homered, and the Tigers beat the Orioles to earn a split of the four-game series.
Jackson (5-3) permitted only three baserunners and faced only two batters over the minimum. Nick Markakis hit a fourth-inning single; Robert Andino walked in the sixth and was caught stealing; and Ty Wigginton doubled in the eighth.
Jackson, who struck out seven, came within an inning of his second career complete game. He was pulled by manager Jim Leyland after throwing 101 pitches.
Fernando Rodney allowed a two-out walk but got three outs to complete the two-hitter and earn his 10th save in 10 tries. It was Detroit's major-league high seventh shutout of the season.
Twins 3 Rays 2
At. St. Petersburg, Brendan Harris homered and Justin Morneau and Carlos Gomez also drove in runs to help the Twins avoid a weekend sweep with a victory over the Rays.
Nick Blackburn (5-2) pitched six strong innings, allowing two runs and seven hits, and the Twins scored all their runs off Matt Garza (4-4) to beat their former teammate and end a three-game losing streak.
Carlos Pena hit his AL-leading 17th homer for the Rays. Matt Joyce also homered off Blackburn, however Garza -- facing his former team for the first time -- was unable to hold a 2-1 lead after limiting the Twins to two hits over the first five innings.
Athletics 5 Rangers 4
At Arlington, Texas, Adam Kennedy homered twice, including a one-out tiebreaker in the ninth for the first run allowed by Rangers reliever Frank Francisco this season as the Athletics ended a four-game skid.
With the game tied, Kennedy hit a 1-0 pitch off Francisco (1-1) into the right field seats, ending a streak of 28 appearances without allowing an earned run. Francisco had 17 2-3 scoreless innings in his first 17 appearances this season, the most in the majors without allowing a run.
Andrew Bailey (4-0) pitched the final 1 2-3 innings to earn the win.
White Sox 7 Royals 4
At Kansas City, Mo., Chris Getz hit a tiebreaking two-run single off Juan Cruz in the ninth inning, and the White Sox rallied past the Royals for their first three-game sweep in Kansas City since 2005.
The Royals bullpen squandered another respectable start by Zack Greinke, who had been only the third pitcher since 1920 with a sub-1.00 ERA 10 starts into a season.
John Bale (0-1) came in with one out in the ninth and gave up A.J. Pierzynski's third hit, a single just inches fair into left, and walked Brian Anderson. After Cruz walked Josh Fields, Getz singled into right. He scored on a single by Scott Podsednik, who also doubled, tripled and scored twice as the White Sox completed a 5-1 road trip.
Angels 9 Mariners 8
At Anaheim,Calif., Kendry Morales capped a three-run ninth inning with a bases-loaded RBI single and the Los Angeles Angels overcame a seven-run deficit to beat Seattle.
Seattle closer David Aardsma (1-2), who had converted all eight of his save chances and hadn't allowed a run in 14 1-3 innings, failed to protect an 8-6 lead for starter Garrett Olson.
Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 24 games with four hits, including a home run.
The seven-run deficit was the largest the Angels have overcome in a victory since July 15, 1996 at Texas.
Justin Speier (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory.
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