Toronto 11, Miami 3
When: 7:07 PM ET, Monday, June 8, 2015
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Chris Conroy, 1B -
Angel Hernandez, 2B -
Scott Barry, 3B -
Ted Barrett
Attendance:
17582
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada had a lot of fun watching the first inning on Monday.
He enjoyed watching the Blue Jays put up six runs on their way to an 11-3 win over the Miami Marlins to extend Toronto's season-best winning streak to six games.
"You want to get used to it," Estrada said. "It's a great thing. Our offense is one of the best out there. That one inning when we scored a bunch, they were asking me if I wanted to go inside and throw a little more because you kind of sit for a while and you tie up a little bit, but I was fine.
"It's awesome watching these guys swing the bat, it's impressive."
The Blue Jays (29-30) scored their six first-inning runs against left-hander Brad Hand (1-2), who allowed six hits and lasted just two-thirds of an inning.
"I just left too many pitches up," Hand said. "They came out swinging and I left too many pitches up and couldn't get out of the first. You never want to do that to start a series, wear out the bullpen."
Meanwhile, Estrada (3-3) allowed seven hits, no walks and three runs while striking out six in seven innings to win his second straight start.
Designated hitter Josh Donaldson had a homer and three runs batted in and first baseman Chris Colabello extended his career-best hit streak to 18 games.
"We came out and swung the bats," said Blue Jays bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who was filling in for manager John Gibbons, who was ejected in the second inning on his 53rd birthday. "A six-run first inning that's always comforting. It sets the tone. Estrada did a good job."
Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton homered for the Marlins (24-34).
Stanton had three hits. He doubled in the sixth and scored on a single by center fielder Marcell Ozuna to cut the lead to 8-3 and doubled in the eighth.
The Blue Jays scored three runs in the seventh, with left fielder Ezequiel Carrera hitting an RBI double and Donaldson hitting a two-run single against right-hander Vin Mazzaro.
By then, the game was pretty well settled because of the Blue Jays' big first inning.
Shortstop Jose Reyes and right fielder Jose Bautista singled and hit an RBI single.
After catcher Russell Martin walked, third baseman Danny Valencia hit a two-run double and center fielder Kevin Pillar hit a two-run single. Second baseman Munenori Kawasaki hit an RBI double with two outs to knock Hand out of the game as right-hander Andre Rienzo finished the inning.
"Tough hole to get out of," Marlins manager Dan Jennings said. "Brad centered a lot of fastballs and it's a good fastball hitting club. They jumped on him. We created a tough hole for us to dig out. ... Luckily it's game one of the series and we've got two more to play. Hopefully we will bounce back from that."
Donaldson led off the second with his 16th homer of the season.
Gibbons was ejected in the second inning after Bautista struck out on a checked swing.
Stanton hit his 19th homer of the season in the fourth after third baseman Martin Prado's leadoff single to cut the lead to 7-2.
The Blue Jays added a run in the fifth. Martin and Pillar walked. Carrera's grounder forced Pillar at second. Carrera stole second, and Martin scored on the resulting throwing error by catcher J.T. Realmuto.
"I think all parts of the game help," Hale said of the winning streak. "No doubt, we've been pitching the ball better, the offense continues to swing the bats and we've played pretty good defense. When you have those phases working, you can have a six-game win streak. Hopefully we can get on a roll and extend it.
It was the first game between the teams since they made a huge deal on Nov. 19, 2012.
The Marlins sent Reyes, left-hander Mark Buehrle, right-hander Josh Johnson, infielder Emilio Bonifacio, and catcher John Buck to the Blue Jays.
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