Blue Jays Defeat Rays 3-2
Posted May 31, 2010 10:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Among all the talented young pitching the Toronto Blue Jays have, no one has an arm as electric as Brandon Morrow.
The 6-3 right-hander has the stuff to overpower and dominate, which is exactly what he did Monday night in a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Morrow took a no-hitter into the sixth, allowed just a run on three hits and two walks over seven innings, and generally cut up the struggling American League East leaders to open what is a crucial stretch for his team.
The Blue Jays, who won their fourth straight and improved to 31-22 before a disappointing crowd of 11,335, play the Rays (34-18) twice more at home before hosting the New York Yankees for three. After that it’s off to St. Petersburg, Fla., for three more versus Tampa Bay. Interleague play then resumes for Toronto with some of the best the National League has to offer, including Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco.
That will carry the Blue Jays into July and their results over the coming month will go a long way in determining how much stock to put into their spring-time surge.
“It’s going to say something,” manager Cito Gaston conceded before the game. “If you play bad, you can play yourself right out of it. If you play good, you can play yourself right into it. We’ll know one way or the other once it’s said and done.”
Monday’s victory was a great start, especially since the Blue Jays came in a combined 2-7 versus the Rays and Boston Red Sox, two of their primary rivals, this season. Tampa has lost six of its last eight.
A brilliant Morrow (4-4) was backed by Adam Lind’s two-run homer in the first off Matt Garza (5-4), who had been a Blue Jays nemesis but lost to them for the second time this season. Lind’s homer pushed the Jays’ club record homer total for a single month to 54.
A resurgent Aaron Hill added an RBI single in the fifth to make it 3-0. That run proved pivotal when the Rays scored a pair in the eighth on B.J. Upton’s RBI triple and Willy Aybar’s run-scoring groundout.
Shawn Camp cleaned up Scott Downs’ problems in the eighth, and Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his 14th save, escaping unscathed after allowing a one-out triple to Evan Longoria.
But it was Morrow who set the tone.
Like many young power pitchers, the 25-year-old at times has trouble harnessing his repertoire, but against the Rays he threw strikes, worked quickly and commanded the strike zone.
He effectively mixed in a strong curve and changeup to go along with a fastball that occasionally touched 96 miles per hour but sat 92-93. He struck out just one, and rather than try to blow away the Rays, he exploited their aggressiveness by inducing weak contact and letting his defence do the rest.
The outing was by far Morrow’s best since joining the Blue Jays in a December trade that sent reliever Brandon League and a prospect to Seattle. Though he had pitched in parts of three big-league seasons prior to this one, Monday’s start was just the 26th of his career.
The Blue Jays strongly believe he’s just scratching the surface.
Notes: Gaston remained mum on his plans for the No. 5 slot in the rotation beyond Brian Tallet’s outing Tuesday. But pitching coach Bruce Walton did say the team intends to stay with a five-man rotation rather than using off-days to go with four men. “When we lined things up before the season we told ourselves if there was an opportunity to give guys rest because of days off, we would,” said Walton. “We’ve done it so far, so we’re going to stay with it.” That means the Jays will need a fifth starter again June 8 at Tampa Bay, and there are indications it will be Jesse Litsch. The right-hander, coming back from elbow surgery, can be activated from the 60-day DL on Friday. … 2B Jarrett Hoffpauir (triple-A Las Vegas), RHP Chad Jenkins (single-A Lansing) and C J.P. Arencibia (Vegas) are the Blue Jays’ minor-league stars of the weekend. Hoffpauir hit for his second cycle of the season Friday, Jenkins pitched six scoreless innings for his fourth win, while Arencibia hit his eighth homer of the year. … Top Jays prospect Kyle Drabek (7-4) threw eight scoreless innings Monday in double-A New Hampshire’s 3-0 win over Trenton. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four.
