Brandon Morrow tied a season high with 10 strikeouts and Yunel Escobar delivered the go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning as the host Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Wednesday.

Morrow (4-4) retired the first 13 hitters he faced, and allowed one run and four hits in seven innings to improve to 2-0 in four interleague starts at the Rogers Centre. Toronto, which ended a two-game losing streak, has won each of Morrow's last six interleague starts.

Blue Jays rookie Eric Thames’ first-career homer - a leadoff shot in the sixth – tied the game at 1. In the seventh, Rajai Davis hit a one-out, ground-rule double to center field off Pirates starter Paul Maholm (4-9) and Escobar followed with a slow ground ball to shortstop that just eluded the glove of a diving Ronny Cedeno and scored Davis.

Jason Frasor pitched the eighth and Frank Francisco worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances.

Maholm fell to 0-7 in 11 career road interleague starts despite allowing two runs and nine hits in seven innings. The Pirates have lost 13 of their last 15 interleague games on the road.