Cleveland too much for Jays

Carrasco dominant as Cleveland shuts out Toronto 6-0

The last time Toronto FC played in Columbus, the club was on an emotional roller-coaster.

Defensive anchor Drew Moor had been sidelined earlier in the week by a heart irregularity. And coach Greg Vanney was in Arizona grieving the loss of his mother.

Vanney was back in time for the game, only to see his team take the lead and then concede two goals in a six-minute span in a 2-1 loss.

Toronto returns to Columbus (5-4-1) on Wednesday, looking for some payback.

Toronto has been on a roll since that April 15 loss to the Crew. It has won four straight, outscoring the opposition 8-2, and now sits atop the Eastern Conference and overall standings.

Columbus is 1-2-0 since the Toronto game, blanking New England 2-0 last time out.

The Columbus loss prompted TFC to make changes, re-calibrating its shape on the pitch to avoid its defence getting too stretched.

It seems to be working. With 19 points, Toronto is off to its best-ever start after 10 games.

The measure of the team was shown on the weekend in Seattle when Toronto, despite a horrible travel schedule and starting lineup featuring just five or six regulars, defeated the defending champion Sounders 1-0.

Vanney opted to keep striker Sebastian Giovinco, playmaker Victor Vasquez and defenders Steven Beitashour and Eriq Zavaleta at home for the long trip to Seattle and its artificial turf.

Goalkeeper Chris Irwin, defender ChrisMavingaandJasonHernandez and midfielders Jay Chapman and Benoit Cheyrou came into a newlook 4-5-1 formation.

For Mavinga, given the hook in his first start against Atlanta, it was a chance at redemption. For the veteran Hernandez, it was a first start in a TFC shirt. For the 23-year-old Chapman and 36-year-old Cheyrou, it was a first start of the season. And for Irwin, a return to action after a hamstring injury.

All did well.

So not only did Toronto get a (small) measure of revenge for the Dec. 10 MLS Cup loss to Seattle, but a good chunk of its supporting cast got to contribute.

“We feel we have the best team in the league — not just 1 to 11 but 12 and on,” Bradley said after the Seattle win.

“You don’t get anywhere with two guys or three guys or even just 11,” he added. “Over the course of a long season, you need a team. You need every single guy to contribute in big ways when their moment comes. We have a lot of good players ... I think really, across the board, we have a lot of good players that kind of fly under the radar.”

Said Vanney: “I would put the depth of our team against any team ever in the history of this league. And we’re going to utilize everybody and try to stay as fresh as we can.”

All of his roster should be available for the Columbus game, barring Moor who is back in modified training after a heart procedure.

Toronto is in the midst of a hectic eight-game May schedule that started last Wednesday with a home win over Orlando followed by a 3,310-kilometre trip for the noon local time start Saturday in Seattle. With its flight delayed leaving Toronto, the team arrived in Seattle at 1 a.m. Friday.

“The guys were zombies,” Vanney said of Friday’s training session at the Seattle training centre.

The team left the Pacific Northwest on a 6 a.m. flight Sunday, a departure made no doubt a little more palatable by the three points Toronto was taking with it.

The two coaches were a study in contrasts after the match.

Vanney savoured a “gutsy performance,” and happily pondered the personnel questions in front of him.

Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer, in contrast, looked frustrated — clicking his pen throughout his post-game availability.

“I didn’t know that,” said Schmetzer, when advised by a reporter that Saturday’s loss was his first at CenturyLink Field since taking over the team last summer. “So, thank you for saying that.”

TORONTO — Yan Gomes hit a three-run homer and Carlos Carrasco threw seven shutout innings as the Cleveland Indians blanked the Toronto Blue Jays 6-0 on Tuesday night.

Gomes hit a first-pitch shot off Toronto reliever Aaron Loup in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach. The former Blue Jay had two of Cleveland’s seven hits.

Carrasco gave up three hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. Andrew Miller and Nick Goody completed the fourhit shutout.

The teams will play the rubber match of the three-game series Wednesday night.

Cleveland (18-14) scored twice in the second inning off Blue Jays starter Mike Bolsinger, who made his regular-season debut after a callup from triple-A Buffalo earlier in the day.

Bolsinger (0-1) turned in a respectable effort over 5 2/3 innings but was no match for Carrasco (4-2), who didn’t allow a Toronto runner to reach second base until his final frame.

Bolsinger walked the first two batters in the second inning and both came around to score. Edwin Encarnacion came home on a Lonnie Chisenhall double and Ramirez scored when Yandy Diaz hit into a fielder’s choice.

Carrasco gave up a single to Ezequiel Carrera in the first inning, a single to Darwin Barney in the third and a slump-busting single to Jose Bautista — who ended an 0-for-21 skid — in the seventh.

The Indians threatened in the sixth inning when Encarnacion reached on a walk and moved to third on Chisenhall’s two-out double. Reliever Dominic Leone came on and retired Diaz on a flyout to keep it a two-run game.

Bases on balls proved costly for Toronto (12-21) again in the seventh inning.

Leone was pulled after issuing a one-out walk to Gomes. J.P. Howell relieved him and walked Santana before giving up a ground-rule RBI double to Francisco Lindor.

After a Jason Kipnis popout, Jason Grilli fanned Encarnacion for the third out.

In the bottom half, Bautista stole second after his one-out single. Carrasco responded by getting pinch-hitter Steve Pearce on a flyout and Justin Smoak on a strikeout.

Pearce replaced Kendrys Morales, who left the game with left hamstring tightness.

Loup hit Brandon Guyer with a pitch in the eighth inning before giving up a single to Abraham Almonte. Gomes then belted his second homer of the season.

Bolsinger struck out four and allowed three hits, two earned runs and four walks. Announced attendance was 32,688 and the game took two hours 47 minutes to play.

Notes: For the second straight night, Encarnacion received a standing ovation before his first at-bat.