Toronto 5, Cleveland 1
When: 7:10 PM ET, Thursday, April 30, 2015
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature:
46°
Umpires:
Home -
John Hirschbeck, 1B -
Bill Welke, 2B -
James Hoye, 3B -
John Tumpane
Attendance:
9798
By The Sports Xchange
CLEVELAND -- The Toronto Blue Jays were held scoreless on three hits for eight of the nine innings, but they scored five runs on four hits in the fourth, and that was enough to lift them to a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night at Progressive Field.
Neither starter was around for very long. Cleveland left-hander T.J. House (0-4) and Toronto left-hander Daniel Norris each pitched just three innings. House gave up five runs on four hits and three walks. Norris gave up four hits, but no runs and two walks. He did, however, throw 78 pitches.
So the game became a battle of the bullpens, but the battle began with Toronto leading 5-0, thanks to a five-run fourth inning in which House failed to retire any of the five batters he faced before being removed from the game.
Left-hander Jeff Francis (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 innings to get the win for Toronto.
Left fielder Michael Brantley and designated hitter Ryan Raburn each had three hits for the Indians who lost for the 13th time in their last 18 games.
House held Toronto scoreless and hitless in the first three innings, retiring nine of the 11 batters he faced without a ball leaving the infield. But House never got out of the fourth.
House gave up a walk, two singles and two doubles to the five batters he faced in the inning before being removed from the game.
Designated hitter Jose Bautista led off with a walk and went to third on a single by first baseman Edwin Encarnacion. Right fielder Danny Valencia singled, scoring Bautista to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.
Catcher Russell Martin doubled, scoring Encarnacion and moving Valencia to third. Center fielder Kevin Pillar also doubled, driving in Valencia and Martin to make it 4-0. Right-hander Ryan Webb relieved House, who in three innings gave up five runs, four hits and three walks.
Pillar went to third on a groundout by left fielder Dalton Pompey, and Pillar scored on a sacrifice bunt by shortstop Jonathan Diaz to extend the Toronto lead to 5-0.
Left-hander Daniel Norris started for the Blue Jays. He pitched three scoreless innings and gave up four hits but was removed after the third inning with his pitch count already at 78.
The Indians scored a run in the fifth on an RBI single by left fielder Michael Brantley off left-hander Jeff Francis to cut the Toronto lead to 5-1.
NOTES: Blue Jays C Russell Martin has thrown out 50 percent of attempted base stealers (10-for-20). Since 2014, he has thrown out 40.5 percent. ... 2B Devon Travis came into the game hitting .342, matching the Blue Jays' record for highest batting average in April by a rookie (Doug Alt hit .342 in 1977). ... Indians OF Brandon Moss has hit a team-high four home runs, and all four have come off relief pitchers.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Toronto |
|
Cleveland |
Daniel Norris
|
Player |
T.J. House
|
No Decision |
W/L |
Loss |
3.0 |
IP |
3.0 |
1 |
Strikeouts |
0 |
4 |
Hits |
4 |
0.00 |
ERA |
15.00 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Toronto
|
7 |
0 |
10 |
.226 |
8 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
Cleveland
|
11 |
0 |
14 |
.306 |
21 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |