Toronto 7, Miami 1
When: 1:10 PM ET, Saturday, June 23, 2012
Where: Marlins Ballpark, Miami, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Jeff Nelson, 1B -
Lance Barrett, 2B -
Cory Blaser, 3B -
Tim Tschida
Attendance:
24448
By SportsDirect Inc.
Blue Jays 7, Marlins 1: Colby Rasmus' grand slam highlighted a six-run ninth inning as visiting Toronto routed Miami for the second straight day.
The Blue Jays sent 11 men to the plate in the frame to earn their sixth win in the last eight games. Miami has dropped 15 of its last 17 to fall five games below .500.
Edwin Encarnacion kicked off the onslaught, drilling a hanging slider from reliever Steve Cishek (4-1) off the scoreboard in left field for his 21st home run of the season. Toronto extended the lead as Jeff Mathis laid down the Blue Jays' second successful suicide squeeze of the game, bringing home Kelly Johnson as Cishek couldn't relay the ball to home plate.
Edward Mujica came on in relief and promptly loaded the bases for Rasmus, who blasted a shot off the facing of the second deck in right for the third grand slam of his career.
Darren Oliver (2-2) earned the victory with a scoreless eighth inning.
The big inning effectively wiped out what had been a lively pitchers' duel between Miami's Josh Johnson and Toronto's Brett Cecil. Johnson limited Toronto to a run on two hits in seven innings while striking out seven. Cecil worked six innings, allowing just one run on five hits and three walks.
Toronto opened the scoring in the second inning without the benefit of a hit. Encarnacion and Johnson drew back-to-back walks to open the frame, and both advanced on a Yunel Escobar sacrifice bunt.
Rajai Davis followed with a safety squeeze that scored Encarnacion.
Toronto nearly extended the lead in the fifth inning - putting two men aboard to open the frame - but Mathis popped out to short, Cecil struck out and Brett Lawrie was robbed of extra bases when Justin Ruggiano extended to make a diving catch in deep center field.
Cecil preserved the slim lead until running into trouble in the seventh. Ruggiano reached on a bunt single and scored on an Omar Infante double to left field. Cecil gave way to Jason Frasor, who struck out a pair to get out of the inning unscathed.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Marlins came into the game with a 6.89 ERA over their previous 16 games, including six games where they allowed 10 or more runs. ... Rasmus' grand slam was Toronto's second of the season. ... The win improved the Blue Jays to 9-8 in interleague play in 2012.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Toronto |
|
Miami |
|
Brett Cecil
|
Player |
Josh Johnson
|
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
6.0 |
IP |
7.0 |
|
2 |
Strikeouts |
7 |
|
5 |
Hits |
2 |
|
1.50 |
ERA |
1.29 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Toronto
|
8 |
2 |
14 |
.242 |
15 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
| Miami
|
5 |
0 |
6 |
.167 |
11 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
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