Offence lags again and injuries remove two Jays
Travis hits homer but leaves with shoulder pain
• In the afternoon, their general manager announced a major trade he vowed would improve his team’s chances to contend for a playoff spot. In the evening, the Blue Jays saw two key players — Jose Bautista and Devon Travis — leave the game with injuries.
Bautista grabbed his right hamstring area after topping a ball in the eighth inning of the 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies and was unable to return to his right-field post. In the second inning, Travis struck out and moments later had to leave the game with tightness in his left shoulder.
Travis missed five weeks earlier in the season with a strain in that shoulder.
With Jose Reyes gone in a trade, Travis took over the leadoff spot and hit a home run in his first plate appearance. After his strikeout an inning later, he headed for his position at second base, then turned, head down, and started slowly toward the dugout. Manager John Gibbons and trainer George Poulis met him and conferred, then escorted him off the field.
Earlier in the day, GM Alex Anthopoulos announced the trade that sent Reyes and three prospects to Colorado for star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. But Tulowitzki will not join the team until Wednesday, so the Jays were short a position player.
Danny Valencia, who started in left field, replaced Travis at second and Ezequiel Carrera took over in left. When Bautista was hurt, Carerra went to right, Valencia returned to left and catcher Russell Martin played second base for the second time this year.
Andres Blanco’s double in the fifth inning scored what turned out to be the winning run for the Phillies.
Rookie Adam Morgan (22) earned the win for Philadelphia, striking out two and giving up two runs over six innings of work. Jeanmar Gomez and Luis Garcia each pitched a scoreless inning for the Phillies before Ken Giles earned his first save of the season.
Philadelphia, which has the worst record in baseball at 38-63, has won five straight games.
Travis hit a home run for Toronto (50-51), which has lost back-to-back games to fall beneath .500. Felix Doubront (1-1) pitched four innings, giving up three runs and striking out three. Ryan Tepera, LaTroy Hawkins, Brett Cecil and Liam Hendriks combined for five innings of scoreless relief.
Travis took over the leadoff role with Jose Reyes on his way to Colorado. He was clearly comfortable at the top of Toronto’s batting order, hitting a home run to left field in the Blue Jays’ first at bat of the game. It was Travis’s eighth homer of the season and first since May 3.
Toronto added to its lead in the second when Ryan Goins’s sacrifice fly brought home Russell Martin for a 2-0 lead.
Cody Asche tied it 2-2 for Philadelphia in the fifth with a double over Bautista’s head in right field. That scored Ryan Howard and Darin Ruf.
Blanco gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead in the next at bat, scoring Asche on a double up the left-field line.
Howard had reached base to start the fifth inning on what appeared to be a foul ball. The ball looked as though it bounced off Howard’s thigh and hit the dirt inside the batter’s box before bouncing into fair territory.