Southpaw Happ bests his former team; Blue Jays take down Phillies, 5-3
PHILADELPHIA — Devon Travis and Dwight Smith Jr. each hit two-run doubles, J.A. Happ pitched neatly into the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies,
5-3, on Sunday.
Curtis Granderson added a solo homer to help the Blue Jays take two of three in the interleague baseball series.
Happ (7-3) allowed three runs — two earned — and six hits, striking out eight in 6 2/3 innings against his former team.
Travis lined a double to leftcentre to give the Jays a 2-0 lead in the second. Smith hit one down the third-base line with two outs in the sixth off a 3-2 pitch from reliever Tommy Hunter, extending the lead to 4-0.
Granderson hit a 0-2 pitch in the ninth to right off closer Hector Neris to provide an insurance run after Toronto’s lead was cut to 4-3.
Phillies starter Nick Pivetta (4-3) gave up two runs and four hits, striking out seven in five innings in his first career start against the team he grew up rooting for in Victoria, B.C.
Down 4-0, Philadelphia rallied in the sixth and got help from some sloppy defence.
Maikel Franco hit a single with one out and Carlos Santana reached on an infield hit. The runners went to second and third on third baseman Josh Donaldson’s throwing error.
Aaron Altherr followed with an RBI single. Santana scored and Altherr advanced to second when centre-fielder Kevin Pillar slipped and booted the ball for an error. Nick Williams added an RBI single to right.
Seunghwan Oh retired the four batters he faced and Ryan Tepera finished for his second save in five tries.
Happ pitched with the Phillies in 2009-10 before he was traded to Houston in a deal that brought Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia.
After moving into first place in Major League Baseball’s National League East this late in a season for the first time since finishing 2011 with 102 wins, the Phillies (29-21) fell a half-game behind Atlanta.
Dominating the series
The Blue Jays (25-28) are 14-4 vs. Philadelphia since 2012 and 36-24 overall, including the 1993 World Series.
Up next
Blue Jays: RHP Aaron Sanchez
(2-4, 4.07 ERA) takes the mound in the opener of a three-game set at Boston. He’s 4.2 with a 3.66 ERA in 17 appearances vs. the Red Sox, including nine starts.
Phillies: RHP Vince Velasquez
(4-5, 4.18) starts the opener of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers as the team begins a 10-game road trip. Velasquez is 0-2 with an 11.45 ERA in three appearances vs. the Dodgers with 17 strikeouts in 11 innings.