Blue Jays 5 Reds 0
CINCINNATI, Ohio — Jose Molina doubled and homered Saturday night, and Brandon Morrow bounced back from one of his worst starts, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-0 victory that kept the Cincinnati Reds winless in interleague play.
Jose Bautista also had a pair of hits, including an RBI single off Edinson Volquez (5-7). Morrow (3-4) gave up five hits in 6 2-3 innings, two of them by Jay Bruce.
Cincinnati fell to 0-5 against the American League this season. The Reds were swept in Cleveland last month.
Reds first baseman Joey Votto of Toronto received the Lou Marsh Trophy on the field before the game, honouring him as Canada’s top athlete in 2010.
Votto won the National League’s MVP last season and led the Reds to their first division title and playoff appearance in 15 years. He grew up a fan of the Blue Jays, but is having a tough time against them, going 0 for 8 while getting the ball out of the infield only once.
Morrow wanted to rebound from his dreadful start a week earlier, when he allowed a career-high nine runs in only 4 1-3 innings of a 16-4 loss to Boston. Morrow left with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh. Jason Frasor got pinch-hitter Edgar Renteria to fly out.
The Blue Jays got a run in the third, but could have had more.
Yunel Escobar doubled to start the third. Corey Patterson pulled a drag bunt toward first, and Volquez fielded and threw wildly to first for an error that let Escobar round the bases. The ball bounced over the rolled-up tarp down the line, briefly disappeared behind it, then rolled out the far end.
Patterson thought the ball was dead, slowed on his way to third base and was tagged out. Manager John Farrell came onto the field to question the decision, which was upheld after a brief conference by the umpires.
Molina homered off the facing of the upper deck in left field to open the fourth. Rajai Davis then tripled and scored on Jayson Nix’s sacrifice fly. Bautista singled home a run in the fifth that made it 4-0, getting a ground ball through Cincinnati’s pronounced infield shift — three fielders between second and third.