Buehrle brilliant, Blue Jay bats boom in 10-0 blowout win over Phillies

TORONTO – The Blue Jays turned a pitching duel into a rout with a nine-run seventh inning on Wednesday night as Toronto crushed the Philadelphia Phillies 10-0 to extend its winning streak to four games.

Mark Buehrle (6-1) allowed just three hits over seven innings as the Blue Jays (17-17) returned to the .500 mark in the opener of a nine-game homestand at Rogers Centre. Erik Kratz, Juan Francisco and Edwin Encarnacion homered in Toronto’s big frame.

Sergio Santos and Chad Jenkins worked an inning apiece to complete the shutout. Cliff Lee shouldered the loss for the Phillies, who fell to 15-17.

With two quick-working starters on the mound, the game sped right along over the first six innings.

Lee (3-3) retired the first seven Blue Jays in order before giving up a one-out single to Colby Rasmus in the third inning. Rasmus moved to third base on a ground-rule double by Steve Tolleson and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jose Reyes.

The Phillies had threatened an inning earlier but Toronto’s defence kept them off the board.

Marlon Byrd hit a one-out double and Tolleson made a nice play to scoop a slow roller near second base to retire Domonic Brown. Toronto right-fielder Jose Bautista recorded the third out by making a nice running catch at the warning track on a John Mayberry Jr. fly ball.

Bautista showed his range again in the sixth inning with a great diving pickup on a sinking Chase Utley liner. Buehrle followed by striking out Carlos Ruiz.

Lee flashed some of his defensive skill in the bottom half of the frame.

The southpaw jumped up to spear a comebacker from Melky Cabrera and threw to second base to get Reyes on the forceout. The Phillies nearly turned two but Cabrera beat the throw by a quarter-step. Lee struck out Bautista to end the inning.

The Phillies had a runner on second base in the seventh inning but Buehrle got Cody Asche on a weak grounder for the third out.

Encarnacion led off the Toronto half of the seventh with a standup triple. Philadelphia outfielder Ben Revere misplayed the ball, allowing it to bounce off the wall and roll back into centre field.

Kratz took the next pitch from Lee into the second deck in left field for his second homer of the season. Dioner Navarro followed with a single and he scored when Francisco’s line-drive homer barely cleared the wall in right field.

Lee was pulled after giving up a one-out double to Tolleson. Mario Hollands came on in relief and threw a wild pitch to Reyes that allowed Tolleson to advance to third.

Reyes walked, stole second and moved to third when Cabrera struck out on a wild pitch. The ball got away from Ruiz and Tolleson scored while Cabrera ran to first.

The Phillies went to the bullpen for former Blue Jay Shawn Camp, who promptly gave up a single to Bautista. Encarnacion followed with a three-run shot to deep left-centre field for his fourth homer of the year.

Kratz singled for his second hit of the inning before Navarro grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Buehrle allowed two walks and struck out six. Lee, meanwhile, allowed seven hits, six earned runs and a walk while striking out six.

Notes: Announced attendance was 16,446 and the game took two hours 23 minutes to play. … Former Blue Jay A.J. Burnett (2-1) is scheduled to start for the Phillies on Thursday night. Toronto will counter with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (2-3). … Byrd hit a mammoth foul ball in the seventh inning. The ball curved foul and landed about 10 rows deep in the 500 level beside the left-field pole. … Francisco now has four homers on the season. It was his first career home run off a left-handed pitcher.

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