Toronto, ON – Toronto put six runs across in the first inning and never looked back as the Blue Jays routed the San Francisco Giants behind R.A. Dickey, 10-6, in the opener of a two-game set from the Rogers Centre.
Dickey (3-5) struck out a season-high 10 in six innings of six-hit, two-run ball for Toronto, which has won three in a row after dropping its previous three.
"I felt like I had a pretty good knuckleball today," said Dickey. "I was getting a lot of swings and misses."
The Jays brought 11 batters to the plate in the opening frame and put six runs across, giving Dickey an early cushion. Pablo Sandoval's throwing error allowed leadoff hitter Melky Cabrera to reach base. Jose Bautista then drew a walk and Edwin Encarnacion and Mark DeRosa followed with RBI singles.
Two batters later Colby Rasmus delivered an RBI poke to right and following a Henry Blanco strikeout, Emilio Bonifacio and Cabrera plated runs with sharp liners that fell in front of the Giants outfielders. Toronto did not have an extra base hit in the frame.
Cabrera paced the Jays' 18-hit attack with a 4-for-5 effort which included two RBI and two runs scored against his former club. Encarnacion also drove in two and scored twice, while Brett Lawrie had a season-high three hits.
"We got some big hits the other way," said Jays manager John Gibbons. "We were staying on the ball and that's what good hitters do."
Barry Zito (3-2), who had allowed more than one earned run just once all season, was tagged for eight runs -- five earned -- on a season-high 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
"They hit a fair amount of my pitches tonight," admitted Zito.
Trailing 6-0, Nick Noonan put San Francisco on the board in the top of the second with an RBI single to right.
The Giants tacked on another run in the fourth when Brandon Belt clubbed his fifth of the season, a solo shot to right field.
Zito, who had settled down after the six-run opening stanza, was pulled with men on the corners and two down in the sixth inning. George Kontos took over and on his second pitch, Encarnacion ripped a two-bagger over the head of Hunter Pence in right field. Pinch-hitter Adam Lind then singled off Kontos' foot, plating another run, and Lawrie capped the three-run inning with his RBI double to right.
The Jays' final run came in the seventh inning. With two away, Bonifacio singled and Cabrera plated him with a double to deep right field.
San Fran got things going late with four runs in the final two innings. The first came in the eighth on a Belt RBI double, and the final three in the ninth on Sandoval's three-run shot to left field off Brad Lincoln.
Game Notes
Marco Scutaro went 3-for-5 and extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Scutaro has at least two hits in nine of his last 10 ... Toronto improved to 5-8 all-time against San Francisco ... The Jays went 8-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
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