Brandon Morrow had no trouble finding his rhythm. Freddy Garcia couldn’t say the same.
Morrow won his fourth straight decision, Yunel Escobar had three hits and the Toronto Blue Jays again roughed up the Yankees for their fifth straight win, 7-1 on Friday night.
Morrow (6-4) has not lost since June 11 against Boston, and is 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA in his past six starts. He allowed one run and four hits in 6 2-3 innings, walked two and struck out six.
“I think I’ve established command and rhythm after being on the DL (to start the season) that I didn’t have right away when I came back,” Morrow said of his recent run. “I was getting in trouble falling behind guys, giving up big innings. My fastball command through this stretch has been great, walks have been done, and commanding both sides of the plate has been big.”
Morrow missed the first three weeks of the season with a tight right forearm but has not missed a start since returning.
New York had at least two runners on in both the first and second but Morrow gave up just one run, then set down 13 in a row.
“The first inning and a half I was getting behind, walked a couple of guys,” Morrow said. “Then I started commanding the fastball a lot better and commanding the inside of the plate very well. That helped out and my defence made some unbelievable plays.”
Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson complimented Morrow for not losing his cool in the early innings.
“You’ve got to give credit to Morrow for getting himself out of jams,” Granderson said. “Once he did find himself with runners on he didn’t give us too many balls where we came back to the dugout going, ‘Oh man, we missed one.’ It was a matter of him executing and he settled in once he did get himself into trouble.”
Garcia meanwhile, had no such luck settling into his groove. Yankees catcher Russell Martin, who complained about the Blue Jays stealing signs in their 16-7 win Thursday, said he and starter Garcia used multiple signs throughout Friday’s game, even with no one on base.
Martin was born in Toronto but raised in Chelsea, Que.
That slowed the pace and kept Garcia, already pitching on extra rest after his final start before the all-star break was rained out, struggling with his command.
“We changed the signs all the time so it’s hard sometimes to get into a rhythm,” Garcia said. “When you can’t find the rhythm, they know. They know you’re kind of struggling on the mound.”
The Yankees have lost their first two games following the break, and four of six overall.
Octavio Dotel got one out in the seventh, Marc Rzepczynski worked the eighth and Jason Frasor pitched around three singles in the ninth as the Blue Jays evened their record at 47-47.
Frasor made his 452nd appearance for Toronto, tying Duane Ward for first on the franchise’s career games list.
Elsewhere in the American League it was: Chicago White Sox 8 Detroit 2; Texas 4 Seattle 0; Tampa Bay 9 Boston 6; Cleveland 6 Baltimore 5; Kansas City 2 Minnesota 1 and Oakland 5 L.A. Angels 3.
At Toronto, Escobar had three hits, a walk and two RBIs. He singled home a run in the first, doubled in the third, walked and scored in the fifth and hit an RBI single in the eighth.
Toronto opened the scoring in the bottom of the first against Garcia (7-7) when Eric Thames doubled and scored on Escobar’s single to left.
New York tied it with a run in the second when Jorge Posada scored on a base hit by Eduardo Nunez.
The Blue Jays broke the deadlock by scoring twice in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Travis Snider and Edwin Encarnacion brought home the first run and Encarnacion later scored on Jose Molina’s two-out single to centre.
Toronto chased Garcia and tacked on three more in the fifth. Thames doubled before walks to Escobar and Adam Lind loaded the bases for Aaron Hill, who drove in a run by beating out a potential double-play grounder to short, with Lind forced at second on the play.
After Hill stole second, Escobar scored on Snider’s sacrifice fly to left. Encarnacion was walked intentionally to bring up Patterson, putting runners at first and second. When Hill and Encarnacion tried a double steal, Martin’s errant throw to third base sailed into left field, allowing Hill to score.
Thames left after five innings with cramping in his left leg and was replaced by Mike McCoy.
Toronto’s Jose Bautista, who leads the majors with 31 home runs, did not play Friday and is expected to sit until at least Sunday. He might also skip the rest of this series and return against Seattle on Tuesday, taking advantage of Monday’s off day.
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White Sox 8 Tigers 2
At Detroit, Chicago’s Gavin Floyd allowed six hits into the eighth inning to outpitch Justin Verlander. Carlos Quentin had three hits and three RBIs for the White Sox, who scored four runs off Verlander in the third inning – more than the Detroit ace had allowed in any start since May 24.
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Rangers 4 Mariners 0
At Seattle, Colby Lewis missed pitching a four-hitter by an out and Texas had three sacrifice flies in winning its ninth straight. Seattle starter Doug Fister retired 15 straight at one point, but again got no help from his offence. Seattle hasn’t scored in 26 straight innings.
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Rays 9 Red Sox 6
At St. Petersburg, Fla., all-star David Price pitched six solid innings and Ben Zobrist hit his fifth career grand slam as Tampa Bay snapped first-place Boston’s six-game winning streak.
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Indians 6 Orioles 5
At Baltimore, Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore homered and Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the tie-breaking run in the sixth inning, as Cleveland extended Baltimore’s losing streak to nine games – matching Buck Showalter’s longest skid as a major league manager.
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Royals 2 Twins 1
At Minneapolis, Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning for Kansas City, reliever Matt Capps’ seventh blown save this season to match the major league lead.
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Athletics 5 Angels 3
At Oakland, Calif., Josh Willingham homered and drove in two runs, and Jemile Weeks singled twice for Oakland. Brandon McCarthy pitched into the sixth inning and matched his season-high of seven strikeouts for his first win since April 10. The right-hander missed nearly seven weeks with a stress reaction in his right scapula.
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