TORONTO — The Oakland Athletics are the hottest team in Major League Baseball and on Tuesday the Toronto Blue Jays saw firsthand why.
Oakland starter Travis Blackley held the Blue Jays to one run over seven innings and the A’s opportunistic offence struck for five runs in the seventh to cruise to a 7-2 win before 25,686 at Rogers Centre.
The Athletics — coming off an impressive four-game weekend sweep of the New York Yankees at home — have won six straight as they improved to a MLB-best 15-2 in July and sit atop the AL wild card standings.
The Blue Jays were trailing 2-1 in the top of the seventh when manager John Farrell decided starter Brett Cecil’s night was over as he turned things over to his bullpen.
The left-handed Cecil had given up just two runs and struck out eight Oakland batters in his six innings of work but he was also sitting at 94 pitches with right-handed hitters Brandon Inge and Derek Norris scheduled to open the seventh for Oakland.
Earlier in the second inning Inge singled off Cecil and Norris followed up with a two-run shot to left to put Oakland in front 2-0.
“In the dugout I told John I had another one in me, but with the righties coming up and one of the righties being one that did the damage tonight to me it’s understandable,” said Cecil of the decision not to send him back out for the fateful seventh. “I didn’t see anything wrong with being taken out of the game.”
Right-hander Chad Beck came on in relief of Cecil and recorded the first two outs of the inning before giving up back-to-back extra base hits to stretch Oakland’s lead to 3-1. At this point, Farrell turned to left-hander J.A. Happ, who was making just his second appearance out of the bullpen in 2012 since being acquired in a trade from the Houston Astros on July 20.
Coco Crisp greeted Happ with a double to make it 4-1, and then following walks to Jonny Gomes and Josh Reddick, Happ surrendered a three-run single to Yoenis Cespedes that put Oakland in front 7-1 and the game out of reach.
“I took us right out of that game,” said Happ. “We were battling and I took us right out of it. It’s not a good feeling.”
THE BIG PICTURE: With the loss, the Blue Jays fell back to .500 at 48-48 and a full four games back of Oakland in the AL wild card standings. The loss also snapped Toronto’s three-game win streak. Oakland improved to 52-44 with the win.
THE ARMS: Much of the pre-game talk Tuesday surrounded whether Happ would take Cecil’s turn in the rotation should the latter struggle against the A’s. After the way the two men performed on Tuesday, talk of Happ replacing Cecil — or anyone else in the Toronto rotation for that matter — is on indefinite hold.
Save for Norris’ two-run homer in the second, Cecil was in complete command Tuesday, striking out eight and walking just two in six innings of two-run, five-hit work.
“As long as he doesn’t walk people in front of the home runs, you can live with the solo home runs,” said Farrell. “Two runs over six innings? Brett did his job.”
As for Happ, while Farrell acknowledged he brought him into a tough situation in the seventh given his inexperience pitching out of the bullpen in 2012, the matchup with the switch hitting Crisp suggested it was still the right move.
“The fact is Crisp is a .200 hitter against left-handers,” he explained. “That was the move, to turn him around to the right side and he hits the first pitch inside the bag for a double. The two following walks obviously contributed to the big inning that unfolded.”
THE BATS: Blackley baffled the Blue Jays’ potent bats all evening except for a Travis Snider solo home run in the bottom of the third (No. 2).
The 24-year-old Snider finished 1-for-4 on the night with a pair of strikeouts and is batting .357 in four games since being recalled from triple-A Las Vegas on July 20.
Travis Snider’s HR was his 2nd in consecutive AB vs LHP. Before that, Snider had 3 HR in 159 career AB vs LHP
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 25, 2012
After scoring a season-high 15 runs on 18 hits Sunday in Boston, Toronto managed eight hits on Tuesday, including two singles and a double off the bat of Brett Lawrie.
J.P. Arencibia hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth (No. 15) to give the Blue Jays their second run.
THE OTHER GUYS: Blackley — making his ninth start for the A’s since being plucked off waivers from San Francisco on May 15 — was terrific on Tuesday, striking out a career-high eight over seven innings. In the bottom of the sixth alone, Blackley struck out Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind and Arencibia in order.
“We’re on a roll,” said Blackley. “We’re enjoying the game and we expect to be able to come up big in certain situations and we’ve doing it over and over again.”
Offensively for Oakland, Norris — acquired from Washington in the Gio Gonzalez deal this past off-season — delivered a big blow with a two-run homer in the second before Cespedes capped off the five-run seventh with his three-run single.
WHAT ABOUT MORROW? Farrell said Brandon Morrow — who continues to recover from a strained oblique muscle — will throw live batting practice Wednesday, and if all goes well will begin a rehab assignment Sunday in Dunedin. There is still no timetable for his return to a major league mound.
WHAT ABOUT BAUTISTA? He continues to see improvement in his strained left wrist and Farrell hopes the right fielder will be able to pick up a bat “in a couple of days.” For more on Bautista’s progress click here.
FRASOR AND SANTOS UPDATES: Earlier Tuesday, Farrell said the MRI on Jason Frasor’s right forearm came back negative. He has been diagnosed with forearm inflammation and will remain under no-throw orders for two weeks. Sergio Santos underwent season-ending shoulder surgery on Tuesday. The club did not provide any further details but earlier this month they said they hope to have him back in time for spring training 2013.
UP NEXT: Toronto’s Ricky Romero (8-6, 5.22 ERA) vs. Oakland’s A.J. Griffin (2-0, 2.70) Wednesday at 7:07 p.m. ET.