Liriano delivers when needed
TORONTO — On a night when the Blue Jays needed a win in order to keep their ground, Francisco Liriano delivered on the mound and the Toronto bats backed him up.
The veteran left-hander threw six shutout innings and Troy Tulowitzki drove in four runs as Toronto blanked the New York Yankees 9-0 Friday.
“I felt Liriano was really, really good,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons. “We just did some really good things offensively . ... Really a well-played game.”
Josh Donaldson, with his 36th home run of the season, and Jose Bautista drove in two runs apiece.
The opening of the four-game series against New York was the first of 10 straight contests for Toronto (84-69) against American League East opposition to close out the season.
The division-leading Boston Red Sox maintained their 5 12⁄ -game lead over Toronto in the AL East by defeating the Rays 2-1 in Tampa. Wild-card rival Detroit and Baltimore both won, downing Kansas City 8-3 and Arizona 3-2 in 12 innings, respectively.
The Jays have a one-game edge on Detroit, which is a halfgame ahead of Baltimore.
Toronto led 3-0 after two innings, adding four more in the seventh and two in the eighth as they had their way with the Yankees bullpen. The Jays, who left nine men on base, outhit New York 13-3.
The 32-year-old Liriano (8-13) gave up three hits, striking out six and walking two, in a gritty 100-pitch performance that featured 64 strikes.
“I thought he mixed his pitches, his changeup and his slider and his fastball,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “He’s got good velocity, he’s got movement to it, and he’s got deception. We just weren’t able to put much together.”
“That guy, man, he’s got some awesome stuff. I told him that’s the Francisco Liriano I grew up watching,” said Jays second baseman Devon Travis, who is all of seven years younger.
Toronto starters have now held the opposition to two earned runs or less in eight straight starts. Jays batters, meanwhile, have collected 10-plus hits in five of their last eight games — something they had done in only two of the previous 12 contests.
It has proved to be a winning combination. The Jays have won five of their last eight after going 3-9 in the first 12 games this month.
It was the sixth straight loss in Toronto for the Yankees (79-74), dropping their Rogers Centre record to 1-6 this season.
“Things are kind of slipping away at this point,” said outfielder Brett Gardner. “We’re not out of it but we’re definitely not in a good position. It’s frustrating.”
Mariners 10, Twins 1
MINNEAPOLIS — Robinson Cano had four hits and two RBIs, and Nelson Cruz added a towering two-run homer among his four RBIs as the struggling Seattle Mariners’ offence got back on track in a 10-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night to stay on pace in the American League wild-card race.
James Paxton pitched seven strong innings and finally received a boost from the offence, which broke out with a six-run seventh inning. Paxton (5-7) struck out nine and allowed one run on five hits. Seattle entered Friday averaging just 2.88 runs per game while Paxton was on the mound.