What the blank is going on, Jays?
WORST START CONTINUES: Brewers journeyman starter Anderson teams up for shutout
TORONTO — Chase Anderson gave up just three hits in seven innings as the Milwaukee Brewers blanked Toronto 2-0 Wednesday, handing the Blue Jays their seventh loss in eight games this season.
Milwaukee centre-fielder Keon Broxton’s RBI double in the second accounted for the only run through five innings until Jonathan Villar sent a 90.2-mph Marcus Stroman cutter 417 feet over the right centre-field fence for a solo homer.
Anderson (1-0), meanwhile, looked like a world beater in an 89-pitch outing that featured seven strikeouts and two walks (one intentional).
Corey Knebel and Neftali Feliz finished off the Jays. Feliz, facing the heart of the Toronto batting order, gave up a one-out walk to Josh Donaldson, but escaped with a double-play for his third save.
Toronto (1-7) lost its fifth straight as its worst start to a season got a little more worse before 29,919 fans.
The last time Toronto was six games under .500 was June 2, 2015, (24-30). On the plus side, the Jays went on to win the AL East that year with a 93-69 record and come within two wins of reaching the World Series.
Toronto, which managed just five hits in a 4-3 loss Tuesday in its home opener, had four hits Wednesday.
Stroman (1-1) went all nine innings, giving up two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts.
A lack of offence has been the major issue with Toronto scoring three runs or less in six of its eight games.
Toronto came into the game hitting .196 with only Kansas City sporting a worse average in the majors. The Jays were outhit 41-24 in the four losses prior to Wednesday’s game.
Donaldson, restricted to pinch-hitting duties in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss due to calf tightness, returned to the lineup as designated hitter. Kendrys Morales shifted to first base.
Anderson, a 29-year-old righthander who came into the game with a 24-24 record in his four-year major-league career, retired the first 10 Jays he faced before Jose Bautista singled to left with one out in the fourth.
Two walks — one intentional to Troy Tulowitzki — loaded the bases for catcher Russell Martin with two outs. But the slumping Martin went down looking in disbelief at the called third strike from umpire Jerry Layne.
Anderson threw 32 pitches in the first three innings — he broke two Jays bats in a seven-pitch third — and 26 in the fourth. Anderson was back in the fifth, needing just six pitches to retire the side.
Martin came into the game hitless on the season and his mood did not improve when Anderson had him back-peddling with an errant high throw in the second inning.
Milwaukee (4-5) went ahead 1-0 in the second on a pair of doubles, with a fine running catch from Bautista limiting the damage with two men left on base. A successful Stroman pickoff throw to second base ended another Brewer threat in the third.
Martin ended his 0-for-20 slump with a two-out double in the seventh, but Steve Pearce flew out.
Kevin Pillar singled to lead off the eighth, but a strikeout and double-play ended things quickly.
The game marked the return of outfielder Eric Thames, a seventh-round Jays draft pick in 2008, who spent the last three seasons in South Korea before signing with Milwaukee. Thames, who did not see action in Tuesday’s series opener, played 141 games for Toronto in 2011 and 2012.