Cabrera’s home run in the eighth gives Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 victory over Mets

MONTREAL – Melky Cabrera’s two-run home run in the eighth inning gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 2-0 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday and a sweep of their two-game pre-season series held at an Olympic Stadium packed with former Montreal Expos fans.

Moises Sierra was on third with two out when Cabrera pounded an offering from lefty Adam Kolarek over the left-field wall to break a scoreless tie.

Toronto (16-13 in pre-season play) had beaten the Mets 5-4 on Ricardo Nanita’s ninth-inning single before 46,121 on Friday night. The Mets ended their pre-season at 14-16.

The games were organized mainly to show the world that Montreal wants major league baseball back. The fans response was overwhelming, with a total of 96,350 attending the two games, mostly chanting “Let’s go Expos” and “We want baseball.”

It wasn’t as joyous for one unidentified fan who suffered serious injuries Friday night when he fell from the outfield bleachers onto the stadium’s concrete floor. Police ruled it an accident.

Jays starter Brandon Morrow pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and striking out eight. The Mets’ Daisuke Matsusaka didn’t allow a run in five innings, also striking out eight but conceding five hits.

The Blue Jays had a chance in the fourth with two on and one out, but Matsusaka got Brett Lawrie on a short fly to centre and struck out Colby Rasmus to end the threat.

Aaron Sanchez pitched two innings for the win.

The event was organized by concert promoter Evenko and the Montreal Baseball Project, headed by former Expos outfielder Warren Cromartie.

John McHale Jr., an MLB vice-president whose father was the Expos’ original president, was impressed with the turnout. Montreal saw its team move to Washington in 2004 largely due to lack of fans.

“This market had likely lost the intense enthusiasm it once had for major league baseball, so I think this requires us to recalibrate our estimation of how popular our sport might be,” said McHale Jr., who said he met with Cromartie.

“They’re in an unpredictable process with no certainty of success,” he said.