Toronto 7, Houston 2
When: 1:07 PM ET, Saturday, June 6, 2015
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature:
56°
Umpires:
Home -
Bill Welke, 1B -
Sam Holbrook, 2B -
James Hoye, 3B -
John Hirschbeck
Attendance:
31809
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays have won a season-best four games in a row and think there could be better things on the way.
"I have that feeling," manager John Gibbons said after a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday. "It wouldn't surprise me if the guys out there felt the same way."
Right-hander Drew Hutchison (5-1) allowed six hits, one walk and one run while striking out five in 6 1/3 innings.
"I had a good sinker," he said. "I was able to get a lot of ground balls, got a couple of double-play balls."
He said his plan was to "just keep the ball on the ground and be aggressive in the zone."
Center fielder Kevin Pillar had two hits and two RBIs for the Blue Jays, who will try for a sweep in the three-game series on Sunday. Designated hitter Justin Smoak also drove in two runs with an eighth-inning double against right-handed reliever Josh Fields.
Smoak was batting for designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, who has a sore left shoulder and had a cortisone shot after the game.
Shortstop Jonathan Villar hit his first home run of the season for the Astros, who have lost three in a row.
"We've got to salvage a game (Sunday) and get out of town," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "We've got to get into the game better. I think that's the key on both sides of the ball to where we don't create such a mountain for us to climb."
Astros left-hander Brett Oberholtzer (0-1) allowed six hits, three walks and four runs (two earned) and had two strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.
"It's a good lineup," Oberholtzer said. "Two through six is pretty tough. I knew I wasn't going to be perfect, but I wanted to go a little deeper in the game than I did."
It was Oberholtzer's third start of the season after two stints on the disabled list because of a blister on his left index finger.
The Blue Jays (27-30) scored a run in the first on a single by Encarnacion, scoring right fielder Jose Bautista, who had walked with two out and stolen second. Encarnacion felt the pain in his shoulder become worse on a swing during that at-bat.
The Blue Jays added three runs in the second.
Left fielder Danny Valencia doubled to center and catcher Dioner Navarro reached first base on his grounder to shortstop when first baseman Marwin Gonzalez failed to touch the bag. Pillar followed with an RBI single.
Second baseman Ryan Goins sacrificed the runners to second and third. Shortstop Jose Reyes singled in one run and third baseman Josh Donaldson hit a sacrifice fly to right.
"Even through the struggles at the beginning of the season, it's a confident team," Gibbons said. "We're very close to being back to full strength. We've still done a lot of good things. It's pretty amazing we can score a lot of runs. At this point of the season, I can't remember a team I've been with that scores that many that often."
"We keep rotating guys in, whether it's first base or the outfield, and they keep stepping up," Pillar said. "Just a bunch of pros in here, and guys are always ready."
The Astros (34-23) cut the lead to 4-1 in the third. Gonzalez and Villar singled. Right fielder George Springer grounded into a double play before second baseman Jose Altuve flared an RBI single to left-center.
First baseman Chris Colabello led off the fifth with a double to right against right-handed reliever Jake Buchanan to extend his career-best hitting streak to 16 games, the best this season for the Blue Jays.
Valencia sacrificed Colabello to third, Navarro walked and Pillar doubled to bump the lead to 5-1.
Hutchison left with one out in the seventh after designated hitter Evan Gattis hit a leadoff single. Left-hander Aaron Loup finished the inning by striking out pinch hitter Chris Carter and retiring pinch hitter Hank Conger on a line drive to third.
Right-hander Steve De
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Houston |
|
Toronto |
|
Brett Oberholtzer |
Player |
Drew Hutchison |
|
Loss |
W/L |
Win |
|
3.2 |
IP |
6.1 |
|
2 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
|
6 |
Hits |
6 |
|
4.91 |
ERA |
1.42 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Houston
|
8 |
1 |
11 |
.250 |
11 |
10 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Toronto
|
10 |
0 |
14 |
.312 |
19 |
7 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
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